Patna, April 13: Aurangabad police today foiled an attempt of the Maoists to create disturbance during the ensuing panchayat elections commencing on April 20. Three hardcore rebels were arrested and 10 illegal firearms besides police uniform and Naxalite literature were seized from their possession.

The arrested Maoists have been identified as Baikunth Singh, Krishna Dev and Varun Lal. They belonged to Tritiya Prastuti Committee, an outfit fighting against the CPI (Maoist) in Bihar and Jharkhand.

Recently, two top leaders of Tritiya Prastuti Committee Dharamveer Mahto alias Badal and Bighan Ravidas were arrested from Patna. Mahto was sub-zonal commander of north sub-zone under Magadh zone. Ravidas was sub-zonal area commander of the same zone.

“The arrested rebels were wanted in several Maoist-related incidents in the district,” Aurangabad superintendent of police (SP) Vivek Raj Singh said.

The SP said the police stumbled upon the Maoists, firearms and ammunition during a joint operation launched in the areas under Kutumba, Amba and Mali police stations, considered to be the worst Maoist-affected areas of the district.

During the search operation, the police seized two regular rifles of .315 bore, six countrymade rifles, two countrymade pistols, 95 rounds of ammunition, 10 police uniform and a number of Naxalite literature, the SP said.

The SP said the arms were stored at Pachanpur and Kutkari villages for use during the ensuing panchayat polls. The police have taken up area domination exercise in Maoist-hit areas of the district to ensure violence-free polls, he said.

The posters recovered from the spot warned the Maoists of teaching them a lesson. Some posters, asking people to boycott the upcoming panchayat elections in the area, were also recovered, sources said.

Sources saidthe rebels conducted a kangaroo court under Dev police station last week and issued directives to the people contesting the panchayat elections to withdraw nominations. “Withdraw nominations or face the music,” was the message of the Maoists.

The sources said about 60 per cent of the contestants reportedly withdrew their nominations after the order of the Naxalite outfit.

A long queue of the contestants withdrawing nominations was seen at the office of the returning officer today. Returning officer Rajesh Kumar could not be contacted for his comments.

The diktat of the Maoists has put the security personnel on their toes. They apprehend trouble during the election in the district.

In March, the police had recovered eight cane bombs from an area under Madanpur police station of the district.

The police had also destroyed poppy crop at Langurahi village under Madanpur police station, which might have antagonised the outfit.