Singur, Sept. 23: Eight to 10 men sneaked into the Tata Motors small-car plant last night and attacked two security guards with iron rods, lathis and a sickle.

One of them, Ajit Kumar, is in the intensive care unit of a nursing home after he was hit on the head, chest and abdomen.

S.N. Sarkar, the other guard, told police the intruders hurled abuses at them when asked for identity cards. “Aamader jomi chole gechhe aar tora Tatar dalali korchhis (We have lost our land and you are acting as Tatas’ agents),” they shouted.

When their attempt to barge into the paint shop was thwarted, the men set upon Ajit and Sarkar.

The guards raised the alarm. “Our officers found Ajit bleeding profusely. We rushed them to Singur block hospital around 10.10pm. Ajit received seven stitches on his head while Sarkar had sustained minor injuries,” a police officer said.

Over 550 security guards of Security and Intelligence Services, a private agency, man the Nano plant gates and project area. Besides, there are 22 police camps in and around the site.

Security was beefed up after construction engineer Manish Khatua was attacked with steel rods on July 29. That attack had prompted Tata Motors to drop the first hint in public that the company was losing patience with Bengal.

Ratan Tata had on August 22 said the violence worried him and that he did not see the project operating under police protection.

Later, during Mamata Banerjee’s siege of Singur, many workers complained they were threatened and pushed around on their way to the plant. Work has been suspended for a month now.

Becharam Manna, convener of the Save Farmland Committee and part of Mamata’s team, today said his supporters had nothing to do with the attack on the guards.

“Ours is a satyagraha movement and we don’t believe in violence. We will help in the investigation if the administration asks for our help,” he said.

A preliminary probe revealed that the two guards, both in their twenties, were on duty about 30 metres apart behind the paint shop in the middle of the project site. Ajit was at point No. 5, and Sarkar at point No. 6. Their eight-hour shift was to end at 10pm, 20 minutes after the intruders struck.

Ajit, a Patna youth who started work only four days ago, was moved to the ICU at Kalpataru nursing home in Barasat this morning. Doctors said he would be kept under observation for a couple of days.

Dilip Sengupta, the Tata Motors general manager, HR and administration, wrote a two-page letter to the officer-in-charge of Singur police station. “Last night, sometime between 9.30pm and 10pm, 8 to 10 people tried to enter the plant site without any valid documents and when our guards tried to resist them, they were attacked,” he wrote.

“Please treat this as an FIR and take necessary action to find out the person/persons involved in the act.”

An attempt-to-murder case has been registered and Sarkar’s statement has been recorded, an investigating official at the police station said.

“Apparently, the intruders entered the site after jumping the boundary wall with an intention to rob the paint shop,” a senior police officer said.

Superintendent of police Rajiv Mishra said: “An investigation is on and we will soon be able to arrest the people behind the attack.”

Sisir Chakraborty, the block medical health officer, said Ajit sustained blunt injuries on his head. Sarkar had no external injuries but was shocked and disoriented.

The two live in a mess at Nasibpur, 10km from the plant. Sarkar, a Birbhum resident, has been posted at the site for three months.

Security agencies went into a huddle today with senior police officials. “We have ordered an internal probe to see if there was dereliction of duty,” a police officer said.

Security guards are panicky. “It is frightening as people are attacking us inside the project area. We have to be extra careful from tonight,” said Raju, manning gate No. 3 that leads to the paint shop.