SANKHUWASABHA: Activists of Kirant Rastriya Mukti Morcha thrashed five persons, including four businessmen, in Khandbari for defying a bandh onTuesday.

Businessmen said the cadres thrashed them even though they had shut their shops. Gokul Chaudhari of Sunsari, his son Sumit, Kedar Neupane, Badri Pokharel and Kushal Bahadur Tamang were hurt.

Bandh enforcers threw out the groceries from the shop of Gokul Chaudhari. The agitators said the shopkeepers had only partially closed their shops and were playing cards inside. Government offices and market places in Khandbari and adjoining areas remained closed. Vehicles stayed off the roads in the district today. Two activists were injured in clash with police while attempting to shut Udayapur DAO today. They vandalised two government offices there. Two motorcycles bore the brunt of the bandh in Gaighat.

The bandh called by the Maoist wing also crippled life in Khotang district. The agitation affected life in Solukhumbu, Okhaldhunga and Bhojpur districts as well.