Scores of villagers looted costly machinery, iron rods and other materials from the abandoned factory premises of Tata Motors here, taking advantage of the absence of guards, police said.

Security has been beefed up in the area following the incident yesterday, they said. Meanwhile, police arrested a person for stealing materials from inside the project site.

Hooghly SP Tanmoy Roychowdhury said the person was caught while stealing bricks in the early hours after sneaking through the dilapidated boundary walls.

The company guards had left the project site after the West Bengal government formally took possession of the 997-acre land after the passing of the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act, 2011.

A new police camp has been set up near the main gate inside with supervision of Chandannagore SDPO Amitabha Maiti and SDO Abhijit Mitra also inspected the site.

Mitra said 550 police personnel have been deployed to guard the entire stretch of the boundary wall.