The building at the corner of RN Mukherjee Road that houses income-tax consultant Anindya Kundu’s office. Police suspect that his peon has made off with Rs 20 lakh from the office vault. Picture by Pabitra Das

Income-tax consultant Anindya Kundu was shocked when he opened his RN Mukherjee Road office on Saturday afternoon. The cash vault was broken open and Rs 20 lakh was missing.

Kundu left for Mumbai on June 4 and handed over the key to his peon, asking him to clean the office every day. The peon has been missing since June 5.

“The peon is our prime suspect. We are trying to track him down. A team has been sent to his native place in Orissa,” said an officer of Hare Street police station.

The police refused to identify him for the sake of the investigation.

In Calcutta, the peon used to stay with his uncle Mahesh Boi, who works in an office in Burrabazar.

“We have picked up Mahesh, who has been living in the city for the past two decades. He denied having any information about his nephew but his statement was not convincing. He also contradicted himself on a number of occasions. He, too, might have played a role in the theft,” said an investigating officer.

The sleuths suspect that the peon, whom Kundu hired two months ago, fled the city with the money on the night of June 4. The peons in some of the adjacent offices were questioned but they said they had not seen him since Thursday.