Burdwan, Sept. 2: A drunk guard dozed off on Amritsar Mail, delaying it by about an hour-and-a-half last night.

The Up Amritsar Mail, which reached Burdwan on time (8.32 pm), was scheduled to resume journey after a two-minute halt.

When repeated signals from the traffic control-room failed to generate a response from the guard’s cabin, the Burdwan station master went to see what was up.

P. Murmu, who started from Howrah about an hour-and-a-half before, was drunk and out of sense.

The resident of Jhajha in Bihar was handed to the Railway Protection Force (RPF) last night and produced before the railway magistrate this morning.

Murmu was granted bail and told to appear before the sub-divisional judicial magistrate on September 15.

Senior officials, including divisional security commissioner-II Alok Kumar, declined comment. “I am not entitled to comment on the incident. Any observation on on-duty guards is to be made by officials of the Howrah division,” Kumar said.

Sushil Kumar, the chief safety officer of East-Central Railway, said Murmu has been arrested and suspended.

“He was found lying on his back in the guard’s cabin. An empty liquor bottle was found there. Murmu was arrested on charges of being drunk on duty, which is a punishable offence. He may be sentenced to a year’s imprisonment and fined Rs 500. We are also thinking of departmental action against him,” Kumar said.

The train left at 9.34 pm with B. Pandey, a guard from Burdwan division, replacing Murmu.