Javed Iqbal in hospital. Picture by Gour Sharma

Durgapur, April 24: Coal smugglers smashed the head of a railway rake guard with a stone when he refused to stop.

The rake was on its way to Damodar Valley Corporation’s thermal power plant at Bankura’s Mejia, about 230km from Calcutta.

According to railway police officers, when the rake reached near the coal yard, the gang waved at Javed Iqbal, 45, to stop. But he ignored them, prompting the smugglers to hurl stones at him.

The smugglers fled as Iqbal collapsed in his cabin.

A grievously injured Iqbal was admitted to the Eastern Railway Hospital in Asansol. “He was given two stitches in his forehead. However, his condition is stable,” a doctor said.

Iqbal lodged a complaint with the railway protection force in Asansol today. He said coal smuggling is rampant in the Bankura-Ranigunj belt and guards and drivers of coal-laden rakes are often forced to stop.

“This is a regular feature in this stretch and I have been threatened by coal smugglers earlier. Yesterday, they waved at me to stop but I refused. Then they picked up stones from the side of the tracks and started throwing them at me. One stone hit me on my forehead and I collapsed in my cabin,” Iqbal said.

Some workers at the coal yard saw Iqbal lying unconscious, his head bleeding profusely. They took him to a nearby health centre, from where he was shifted to the railway hospital.