Gaya, May 26: Police resorted to firing to disperse a mob, which had indulged in arson and stone pelting on the security personnel at Dumaria under Sherghat sub-division of the district today. However, no casualty or injury was reported in the firing.

Trouble started around 9.30am when former chief minister and Hindustani Awam Morcha Secular (HAMS) leader Jitan Ram Manjhi was on his way to Dumaria to meet the family of a local Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) leader Sudesh Paswan, who was gunned down by suspected Maoists during a panchayat election campaign yesterday.

The mob, protesting the murder of LJP Dumaria block president Sudesh and his brother Sunil Paswan, intercepted the pilot vehicle escorting the former chief minister and overturned it. The vehicle was then set on fire. Security personnel were greeted with stones when they intervened.

The protesters also damaged the windscreens of other vehicles, including the one in which Manjhi was travelling. Manjhi was safely escorted to the nearby Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) camp from where he was subsequently taken to Gaya under tight security arrangement.

The violence unleashed by the mob continued till the arrival of reinforcements from the district headquarters.

The police said at least three policemen, including an official of the CRPF, suffered injuries in the stone pelting. Two motorcycles were also torched by the mob besides a police patrol vehicle.

Additional forces were rushed to the spot to bring the situation under control.

Manjhi told journalists that he was the mob's target but their anger was against the state machinery for its failure to curb crime.

A senior police officer said the police had to fire four rounds in the air to disperse the rampaging mob. "The situation is now under control. Additional security forces have been deployed at the village as a precautionary measure," Gaya senior superintendent of police (SSP) Garima Malik said.

The bodies of the deceased were removed and sent to Anugrah Narayan Medical College and Hospital (ANMCH) after the intervention of senior administrative and police officials, who promised arrest of the culprits at the earliest. An FIR was lodged yesterday on the statement of the slain LJP leader's wife Maya Rani.

A senior police officer said three separate FIRs have been lodged with the Dumaria police station in connection with the incident.

While the first case was lodged in connection with the murder of Sudesh and his relative, the second FIR dealt with the road blockade with the bodies of the victims and the third was related to the attack on the former chief minister's cavalcade.

The police have so far failed to make any arrest. Deputy inspector-general of police (Magadh range) Saurabh Kumar, however, said the attack on Manjhi's escort team was carried out by some criminals hailing from Jharkhand. "A few motorbike bearing the registration number of Jharkhand have been seized from the spot," he added.

Gaya district magistrate Kumar Ravi reached the village and took stock of the situation. The Maoists have given a poll boycott in the region. Election in the panchayats under Dumaria block is scheduled on May 30, he added.

The police had recovered pamphlets from the site of the murder indicating the involvement of Maoists. The pamphlet warned of a similar action against those involved in leaking information to the police, a source said.

Meanwhile, HAMS national spokesperson Danish Rizwan slammed chief minister Nitish Kumar over the incident and said even people with Z-category security were not safe in the state. He also accused Nitish's government of giving shelter to anti-social elements in the state.

Manjhi's son-in-law Devendra Manjhi alleged that Nitish's government hatched the conspiracy to attack the cavalcade and demanded proper investigation into the incident.

The Jan Adhikar Party (Loktantrik) condemned the incident of stone pelting on former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi's convoy when the latter had went to Gaya to meet the family members of Lok Janshakti Party leader Sudesh Paswan who was killed yesterday. The party has demanded a high-level probe into the attack on Manjhi's convoy and lambasted the state government for its failure to contain the surge in crime in the state.