Durgapur, May 18: A gang of four sneaked into the Durgapur municipal corporation early this morning and broke open drawers and almirahs.

Police said the raiders rummaged through documents and chequebooks but did not touch a vault that had more than Rs 1 lakh. They beat up two guards, one of them a gunman, and tied them up with a nylon cord.

Civic officials were in the dark about the motive of the half-an-hour operation in the heart of the town, about 150 km from Calcutta. Three guards, who made contradictory statements during interrogation, have been detained.

Around 3.30 am, the quartet scaled the boundary wall, broke open a collapsible gate and entered the ground floor. “One of the goons held a dagger and asked me to hand over the gun. I had no choice,” said Irfan Midda, the gunman.

Bandh: CPM zonal committee member Akhilesh Sharma was murdered in South 24-Parganas’ Baruipur last night.

The CPM has called a 12-hour bandh in the town, about 26 km from Calcutta, tomorrow.