Sindhu Kundu, the syndicate boss wanted for threatening to eliminate the entire workforce of a contractor who had refused to buy building materials from him, is "Sindhu sir" to many policemen in Salt Lake.

An officer from Bidhannagar East police station stumbled on the " khub sammaniyo (very respectable)" identity of the man he had been assigned to arrest just before he raided his office and house in Duttabad on Tuesday night.

A constable posted in the township for several years was less than subtle when he told his officer about the futility of the raid he was to be a part of. " O! Sindhu sir? Uni to khub sammaniyo byakti. Tobe ekhon onake dokane paben na (Oh! Sindhu Sir? He is a very respectable man. But you would not find him in his shop now)," the officer quoted the constable as saying.

This was around 11pm, four hours after the complaint against Sindhu had been lodged.

The syndicate kingpin wasn't in his shop - an illegal construction over a drainage channel in CA Block - when the police went there. He wasn't in his Duttabad house either.

Since Tuesday night, teams from Bidhannagar East and Bidhannagar North police stations have raided several other places frequented by Sindhu, who is in his mid-thirties, and drawn a blank. "I wonder if someone among us informed him well in advance about our raids," said the officer, requesting anonymity.

The search for Sindhu had started after Debaleen Dhar, the owner of a construction firm called AD Enterprise, lodged a complaint accusing him of visiting a construction site at DJ 12, beside Bidyut Bhavan, on successive days and intimidating his workers with the threat of a gun attack.

According to contractors who have been targeted before, Sindhu's business was founded on the twin pillars of intimidation and cheating. He is known to employ 10 local toughs who accompany him to construction sites on their motorbikes when other methods of coercion fail.

In Sindhu's business plan, a truckload of bricks that usually contains around 4,000 pieces becomes half. He then sends two vehicles to a construction site and charges double.

The syndicate kingpin allegedly also cheats on quality. The market rate for grade I brick is Rs 10 per piece, but contractors accuse Sindhu of supplying grade III bricks procured at Rs 6 per piece and billing them for grade I.

Sources said Sindhu's proximity with the police increased with his prosperity. A section of cops allegedly accept money and other favours from him in return for immunity from complaints about cheating and harassment.

When Metro spoke to Sindhu shortly after the complaint against him was filed on Tuesday, he claimed to have visited the construction site at DJ 12 only to drop a visiting card and "seek some business, if available".

He flaunted his police links openly. "The cops know me well. I don't think they will take the complaint (by Debaleen) seriously," he said.

Sindhu did not answer calls after that.

"He has left his mobile with his nephew in Duttabad and is absconding. We have sealed his shop and launched a manhunt. We will not tolerate such acts of crime in the township," said Jawed Shamim, commissioner of Bidhannagar City Police.

Shamim said the police had detained eight persons until Wednesday, including a cousin of Sindhu who was also his business partner.

The police chief didn't respond to a question about Sindhu's alleged closeness to a section of cops.

Sources said Kundu would often send gifts and food to policemen on duty. For party meetings in and around Salt Lake, he would generally be responsible for distributing food packets, they said.

Those who know Sindhu vouch for his name-dropping habit. He is said to be close to Bidhannagar MLA Sujit Bose, although the Trinamul leader denied it when Metro contacted him on Tuesday.

Rajarhat-New Town MLA Sabyasachi Dutta, who is also the mayor of Bidhannagar, said he did not know Sindhu "personally" but had heard of his notoriety. "Such criminals take shelter under the party umbrella for protection. The leaders who support such men should immediately suspend him from all party activities," he said.

In January, Sindhu and his henchmen had visited two houses under renovation in BH and AD blocks of Salt Lake.

"They arrived at our neighbouring house on bikes and abused the elderly owner and his wife for not buying construction materials from his syndicate. The gang left with Rs 10,000. The elderly woman was so traumatised that she had to be hospitaled," recalled a resident of AD Block.

A few days later, Sindhu allegedly forced the owner of a house in BH Block to buy materials from him while adding a floor to the one-storey house.