While a person was arrested on Thursday in connection with the assault on two security guards inside the Nano factory, the cloud of gloom over the unit darkened as ancillary units and contractors shifted their employees and material from the project site. Amid increasing speculations about Tatas leaving Singur, most of the transfer is being done in the dark since the last two days to avoid attention, sources said.

Employees of Premier Infracom, a firm employed by the Tatas to construct foundations for the factories and ancillary units, were sitting idle at the gates of the Nano factory. A civil engineer of the company said, “The head office has asked us to shift the machinery.” He, however, refused to disclose whether the Tatas had said that the project would be closed down or not. “We are waiting for security clearance. Once we get it we will move our material. Our transport is ready,” he said.

Factory sources and locals said machinery is being removed from the factory.

Balaram Das, owner of a small food stall outside gate no 5 of the factory, said, “Machinery, loaded in big trucks, was being taken mostly at night.”

Regarding the arrest of the person accused of assaulting the guards, the police said Tajuddin Ahmed (24) participated in the protest programme of the Save Farmland Committee of Singur. A resident of Joymollah village of Singur, he was arrested from a hideout inside Gopalnagar village.

The committee, while accepting that Tajuddin was its member, claimed that the police have falsely booked him. Two private security guards were beaten up inside the Nano factory on Monday night.