A group of armed robbers overpowered private security guards in the office of Tilaboni Colliery under Bankola area of Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL), under Pandaveswar police station of West Burdwan district last night.
Currently, the private Mine Developer and Operator (MDO) have been appointed for coal excavation at the Tilaboni Colliery, due to which the number of permanent coal miners has decreased.
Private security guards have been appointed to provide guarding at the colliery presently. A group of around 20 miscreants stormed into the colliery premises on Sunday night and outnumbered the security guards, beat them up and locked them inside a room and robbed machinery worth over few lakhs and fled away.
Till the time of reporting Pandaveswar police have not arrested or detained any persons in this connection.
The miscreants have even tried to damage the CCTV cameras installed in the Tilaboni Colliery. Dinesh Mondal, a private security guard said that the miscreants have covered their faces with clothes and forced them to enter the room at gunpoint.
Pandaveswar police station under, Asansol Durgapur Police Commissionerate (ADPC), have started a probe and visited the site after getting a written complaint.
The local MLA, Narendra Nath Chakraborty has urged the CISF to patrol the colliery during the night.