Ranchi/Jamshedpur, Nov. 23: A mukhiya nominee was found beheaded at poll-bound Tamar block near the capital last night while a bystander today was shot at in Ichagarh block, Seraikela-Kharsawan, over a petty voting dispute, the violence dispelling the euphoria of high voter turnout in the first phase of panchayat elections yesterday.

Around 8.30pm yesterday, after the state election commissioner announced 72.08 voting percentage for Day One and the state patted itself on its back for a largely peaceful day, the beheaded body of a 27-year-old mukhiya candidate was found in village Arhanga in Tamar, 60km from Ranchi.

Taking responsibility for murdering Ram Sringar Munda, Maoists left a poster near the severed body calling him a police informer. Ram, who was a candidate for the fourth and final phase of rural polls on December 12, was apparently an informer - designated special police officer and paid out of police secret service funds - who helped CRPF personnel deputed on the border between Tamar block and Seraikela-Kharsawan.

Though SSP Prabhat Kumar stayed noncommittal on Ram's identity as a police informer, he denied the killing had anything to do with his mukhiya candidature from Arhanga panchayat, stressing on his personal rivalry with Maoists. However, policemen hinted off the record that Ram used to boast about his police links, which proved fatal.

Ram's brother Shiv Shankar Munda, in his FIR, has accused unidentified Maoists for the murder, while the body has been taken to RIMS.

In Ichagarh block, 50-year-old Dhyan Singh Munda became an innocent victim of a poll clash today, when he tried to save his friend from getting beaten up. Dhyan Singh of Sikai, who was visiting his wife's village in Ulidih, was sipping tea with his friend Dukhi Singh Munda in the marketplace when suddenly some people gheraoed them and started thrashing Dukhi in a sequel to yesterday's voting dispute.

When Dhyan Singh intervened, one D.D. Mahto shot at him with a countrymade pistol, the pellet splinters piercing his head, left hand and palm.

Brought in pain to MGM Medical College and Hospital in Sakchi, Dhyan said: "I knew nothing about the dispute, I was trying to help my friend."

Seraikela-Kharsawan SP Indrajeet Mahatha said there was some clash at a polling booth yesterday between Mahto and Dukhi. "The violence appears to be its fallout," the SP said.