While the CPM’s office in Uttar Lakhimpur in Kaliachowk was ransacked late on Saturday night, another office of the party in the Old Malda Court Station area was set on fire on Sunday.

“We have arrested three people from Kaliachowk in connection with the incidents. We have deployed our force in the troubled areas and now the situation is under control. The police have launched a hunt for the miscreants who ransacked and set the CPM office on fire,” said Malda’s Superintendent of Police Satyajit Bandopadhyay.

Clashes between Congress supporters and CPM cadres broke out in Bamongram and Uttar Lakhimpur after the recently-held Sujapur by-poll, which was won by the Congress. On Saturday, 20 CPM cadres and 14 Congress workers were injured in a clash at Bamongram.

Leaders of both the parties, meanwhile, continued to blame each other for the violence. Congress leader Abu Hassan Khan Chowdhury said: “Our workers are being attacked by CPM cadres with guns and bombs. If the district administration initiates peace talks, we will give our full cooperation to prevent further spread of violence.”