Dumariya (Bihar), Mar 23 : Maoists conducted a public court here to punish four thieves caught in connection with automobile thefts in the state.

The thieves were accused of stealing one car and two two-wheelers.

The court, which was held in the forest area of Dumariya region in Bihar, saw the thieves being subjected to judgement by villagers.

The villagers beat the thieves up with sticks publicly as a punishment for their crime.

"The Maoists caught us and then handed over to the public," said Dhruv Sagar, a thief.

New Delhi, Mar. 23 : The Rashtriya Janta Dal has released its list of 28 candidates for Bihar, with Union Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav contesting from two constituencies in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.

"We will now contest in 28 out of 40 seats in Bihar as per our seat sharing pact with the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP). We will work to defeat communal forces," Lalu said, while adding that the decision on two seats was yet to be taken.

Lalu will contest from the Patliputra and Saran constituencies.

New Delhi, Mar 22 : Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief and Union Railway Minister Lalu Prasad on Sunday said that his party and the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) would contest all seats in Bihar.

"The RJD and the LJP will contest all seats in Bihar," Prasad said.

Prasad, however, said that he has no rift with the Congress.

"If UPA returns to power it''s good otherwise there will be some other name," he added.

Gaya (Bihar), Mar 21: The Communist Party of India-Maoist rebels bombed railway tracks in Bihar''s Gaya District disrupting train services on the Gaya-Mughalsarai section of East Central Railway (ECR) on Saturday.

The Maoists blasted the down track between Paraiya and Guraru stations just past midnight. The tracks at a length of about four feet have been completely damaged.

During inspection, a live bomb was found planted on the tracks near the blast spot. The bomb squad was summoned to defuse the bomb.

New Delhi/Hyderabad, Mar 20 : Congress has said it was deeply hurt by the deal cut out by its old ally, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), by offering only three out of 40 parliamentary seats in Bihar.

"There is a deep sense of hurt at offering us a paltry three to four seats. Certainly, we as a party are entitled to assert that we should be given many more seats and certainly we do not accept that figure. I think both those stands are fully compatible," said Abhishek Singhvi, party spokesman.

On Tuesday, the RJD and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) announced a pact with RJD getting 25 seats and LJP 12.

Patna/Ranchi, Mar 18 : The Bihar-Jharkhand-Chhattisgarh special area committee of the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) has called for a boycott of the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections on Wednesday.

The Maoists issued a press release, which said that the coming Lok Sabha elections would give an opportunity to the political parties to misrule the country for another five years.