When the villagers failed to bow down, Thakur slapped one of the women,' claimed Thane Zilla Parishad Member Dominica Dabre, of the Shramgiri Sanghatana.

The entire Vasai-Nalla Sopara belt Monday observed a spontaneous shutdown since midnight with all shops, commercial establishments, educational institutions, public and private modes of transport closed for the day.

The police have rushed additional forces, including the State Reserve Police, to the area to maintain law and order.

BVA activist Jitubhai Shah alleged that the opposition to the civic upgradation move was 'politically inspired' and the attacks on Jadhav and Thakur were 'communally motivated' by vested elements seeking to gain mileage with assembly elections round the corner.

Dabre said that since Sunday, six activists of Shramgiri Sanghatana, including its founder Vivek Pandit, have launched an indefinite hunger strike to protest the merger of the four municipal councils and 53 surrounding villages into a monolithic Virar-Vasai municipal corporation.