Balasore, Nov. 26: Life in Mayurbhanj district was thrown out of gear following a dawn-to-dusk strike called by the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha today. They were protesting against the arrest of state president Sudam Marandi last Friday.

Shops, business establishments and educational institutions remained closed in Rairangpur, Udla and Baripada. Courts could not function properly and government offices saw low attendance. Banks and other public sector offices remained closed.

Vehicular movement on the national highway connecting Mumbai and Calcutta, however, was not affected.

Twenty platoons of policemen were deployed in the district to prevent any untoward incident. They took 153 Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) activists into custody. The district JMM president Bhada Hansda and the party’s spokesperson Krushnananda Mohanty were among those who were taken into custody.

“The railway line and national highway road were free from picketing,” said deputy superintendent of police S.R. Mahapatra.

JMM spokesperson Krushnanada Mohanty said: “The strike was in protest against the arrest of our leader. We had decided to spare ambulances and food shops. The strike was successful.”

Former Member of Parliament and JMM president Sudam Marandi was arrested by the police for allegedly inciting violence on Friday.

He was taken into custody along with a 100 of his supporters. Trouble had started after Marandi's younger brother Subodh was allegedly attacked by a group of people at a bus stand on Thursday last. The next day, JMM activists took out a rally and ransacked the houses of two persons allegedly involved in the attack.

The police then arrested Marandi and his supporters. They had also arrested three of the six persons who had attacked Subodh.