Two senior executives of a mining firm were shot dead in Jharkhand as the two-day bandh call by Maoists in Jharkhand and Bihar began on a violent note on Monday.

The rebels blew up railway tracks and a portion of an inter-district state highway, torched trucks, blasted a tower of a private telecom firm and planted road blocks in Jharkhand.

The bandh call is in protest against the Centre’s campaign to counter Naxalites.

Deenanath Sharan, 80, executive director of Panem Coal Mines Limited, and assistant manager Sheetal Prasad, 60, were shot by motorcycle-borne men at Amrapara in Jharkhand’s Pakur district, 450 km northeast of Ranchi.

“According to initial investigations, it appears to be a criminal act. But we cannot deny the involvement of Maoists and local tribal groups opposing coal transportation to other states,” said IGP, Dumka, Ram Prasad.

Panem Coal Mines is a joint venture of the Punjab government and the Punjab State Electricity Board.

In West Bengal, the body of Jharkhand Party member Kanai Murmu who was kidnapped from Ergada village late on Sunday, was found. Another party member was abducted from Kulabheda village. Maoists also shot at a member of a village resistance team in Purulia district.