Calcutta, April 2: Not just Rajat Baksi, Trinamul leader Sanjay Baksi's cousin, but several others with party links have been working as sub-contractors for the Vivekananda Road flyover.

"There are many others with political connections who got the sub-contract in 2011. I am the only one now being made the scapegoat just because my surname is Baksi," Rajat told The Telegraph this afternoon.

The Baksis have a strong political presence: Sanjay is an influential leader whose connections go right up to the Trinamul top and his wife Smita is a party MLA.

Sandhyamani Projects Ltd, the company owned by Rajat, had supplied the men who had worked on the portion of the flyover hours before it collapsed, killing at least 26 people. Rajat, who is under the police scanner now, revealed that like him these "others" had got the job after the Trinamul Congress came to power in 2011.

He named four others who had bagged sub-contracts for the flyover between 2011 and early 2012, saying all of them had "political connections".

"There are several others like Rony Construction, Maa Construction, Asha Enterprise and Anindita Enterprise who had supplied labourers and were involved in the civil construction," Rajat said.

Police are looking for Rajat. An investigator said: "Apart from (contractor) IVRCL and (executing agency) CMDA (Calcutta Metropolitan Development Authority), we will probe the role of smaller agencies that worked under IVRCL."

Rajat told this paper he was cutting short his "vacation" in Odisha and returning home as he had committed no crime. "My parents were worried. My wife was asking me questions. My friends and relatives were calling me, asking what wrong have I done and why is everyone talking about me. I decided to tell everyone I am not hiding and will return to my home in Howrah," Rajat said over the phone.

Had Sanjay Baksi asked him to come back?

"No," Rajat said. "Why would he? I did not talk to him since the flyover collapse."

Sanjay Baksi did not respond to calls.

On Friday, Rajat had told this newspaper that he had bagged the sub-contract in 2011 for supplying labourers, a crane and other construction machinery for the flyover.

Today, he said: "I was mainly a labour supplier and had a very small role to play in the construction. There were 20 other sub-contractors, many of whom had bagged the job around the time I got involved. But no one is questioning their credentials."

In the 16-minute conversation, what Baksi said suggested the flyover was a victim of the Trinamul-run syndicate business that troubles everyone, from big business to the common man building a home.

It followed urban development minister Firhad Hakim's unwritten code for the CMDA of involving several small agencies with unproven credentials in big infrastructure projects.

The Telegraph tried to find out the four flyover sub-contractors Baksi named.

Rony Construction

Address: White House, 24A, Jatindra Mohan Avenue, Calcutta - 700006. Directors: Samir Bhattacharya and others. Formed: August 2011. Role: Supplying labourers.

Trinamul link: Although Bhattacharya denied having any connections, local residents said the Bhattacharyas were "very close" to Sashi Panja (Shyampukur MLA) and Smita Baksi (Jorasanko MLA). A man living in the neighbourhood said that Samir, his brother Prabir and their families were often spotted with the two MLAs and Panja had visited their 1st-floor office at "White House" several times.

The Telegraph went to the registered office at White House, on Chittaranjan Avenue between Sovabazar and Girish Park Metro stations, but found no one there.

"The owners do not come to this office very often. They sit here only when important persons come," said a guard. He pointed to another office across the road, on Durga Charan Mitra Street, which also bore a nameplate of Rony Construction. The office had employees but none of the bosses.

Bhattacharya said over the phone: "We have been working on the project since 2011. We used to supply labourers but had no role in the civil construction."

When Sashi Panja was asked if she knew of Rony Construction or Samir Bhattacharya, she said: "I haven't ever heard of any such company. I don't even know anyone called Samir Bhattacharya."

Smita Baksi did not take calls till late.

Maa Construction

According to information available in the public domain, they had an office on Nirmal Chandra Dey Street near Hind Cinema, but a visit to the location led to a sweet shop.

Asha Enterprise and Anindita Enterprise

A corporate domain listing suggested that their offices were somewhere in Burrabazar and Baguiati, respectively, but neither could be located.