Security personnel stand beside a vehicle torched by the Maoists on Thursday. Picture by Lokesh Bihari

Maoists set at least two private vehicles on fire and blew up a private cellphone company tower on the first day of their 48-hour bandh on Thursday.

The bandh has been called to protest the acquittal of 26 accused convicted in the 1997 Laxmanpur Bathe carnage.

On October 9, Patna High Court acquitted all the 26 accused, including the 10 awarded death sentence by a lower court, for want of evidence.

Even as the police claimed to have made elaborate security arrangements, the rebels set fire to a private bus near Ramlila village in Muzaffarpur district, around 80km north of Patna. However, there was no report of any casualty in the incident. The police said 20 and odd Maoists reached the village around 1.30am and asked the driver and the co-driver to get down. The bus was taken to a field to be set on fire.

Another Maoist group blew up the cellphone tower at Pokhraira village of Muzaffarpur district. They also assaulted a private security guard, deployed at the tower.

Muzaffarpur senior superintendent of police Saurabh Kumar said patrolling had been intensified in the sensitive areas.

The Maoists also burnt a private jeep on the border of Aurangabad and Rohtas districts. The vehicle was reportedly stopped by the rebels on the GT Road and later set on fire. A police officer deputed at Barun police station in Aurangabad district said the report was being verified.

Additional director-general (headquarters) Ravinder Kumar said in Patna that no major incident was reported from any part of the state.