Patna: More than 1,500 Communist Party of India – Marxist-Leninist (Liberation) supporters were arrested and six injured in different incidents during the dawn-to-dusk Bihar bandh that affected normal life mainly by disruption in road and rail traffic on August 21.

In Patna, around 600 CPIML (Liberation) workers including its central committee members K D Yadav, Saroj Dubey, Rameshwar Prasad and party general secretary Ram Jatan Sharma were arrested while enforcing bandh.

The naxalites clashed with supporters of the incarcerated Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP Mohammed Shahabuddin in Siwan during the bandh. Nearly 400 bandh supporters led by CPIML MLA Satyadeo Ram were arrested in Siwan, official sources said.

Another party MLA Arun Kumar was arrested along with a dozen supporters in Rohtas district. The total number of arrests was over 1,500, sources said.

Police said, six CPI-ML (Liberation) workers, including its state women wing member Kunti Devi, were injured in police lathi-charge in Jehanabad town while enforcing the bandh.

Major markets remained closed in Jehanabad, Gaya, Arwal, Darbhanga, Rohtas, Sitamarhi, Nalanda and other places. The number of vehicles plying were also less. CPI-ML supporters took out processions to enforce bandh in these places.

In the state capital, many shops downed their shutters while small shops were opened in residential localities but vehicular traffic was thin. Most of the schools were open.

Many passenger and long-distance trains were stranded at different places in Danapur, Samastipur and Mughalsarai divisions of the East Central Railway (ECR), ECR sources said.

PTI