Calcutta, Nov. 2: A director of Duncans Industries Ltd, owned by G.P. Goenka, this morning met CID officers investigating if the company had not cleared workers' salary arrears for almost a year, but the officers refused to take documents from him as he was not an accused.

In the evening, the company sent a notice to the stock exchange saying Srivardhan, Goenka's son, had resigned from the board on October 7 with immediate effect.

CID sources said they had expected G.P. Goenka and Srivardhan, the two accused in the case, to appear tomorrow.

Amid murmurs that police were turning the heat on the Goenkas following instructions from the chief minister, the company sent the notice to the stock exchange.

Corporate insiders said the move could be for shielding Srivardhan, the heir of the Duncans Goenka Group that has interests in paper and railway equipment, from the probe.

"In an FIR lodged by Dilwar Subba, a labourer working in the group's Runglee Rungliot tea garden, the names of G.P. Goenka and his son Srivardhan were mentioned as accused. We need to interrogate them," said Vineet Goyal, inspector-general, CID.

Attempts to contact the Goenkas on their cellphones and office phone numbers drew a blank.

"We sent a notice to the father and son yesterday, but they did not turn up today... We are expecting them to turn up tomorrow," Goyal said.

DIL director M. N. Shenoy reportedly told the officers that the senior Goenka was out of town.

Shenoy reached the CID headquarters, Bhavani Bhavan, at 10am and left after three-and-a-half hours.

"He said there were no irregularities in the company's payment system and tried to convince us saying he would produce documents related to his claim. We told him we will not receive any document from him as he was not an accused," said a CID officer.

"If they (the Goenkas) cite funds crunch, we will examine the company's books to ascertain the veracity of the claim," the officer added.

When asked if the CID had earlier conducted any probe into tea garden workers' allegation of wage arrears, a senior officer said: "No. This is the first time in my memory that the CID is conducting such a probe."

Asked why the CID stepped in, the officer said: "The agency was ordered to conduct a probe. We are following the order."

Police sources said that if the charges against the father and son - cheating and criminal breach of trust - were proved, it may result in a jail term of up to seven years.

According to a CID source, Subba alleged that the Goenkas did not pay employees' dues after last year's increment. Rungli Rungliot is in Darjeeling.

"The two are also accused of denying the workers regular supply of essential ration, which is part of their package," said the CID source.

A Duncans official had yesterday said only a month's salary to workers was pending.

However, tea industry sources said Duncans had not given ration for over a year.

In the quarter ended June 2015, DIL had a turnover of Rs 8.41 crore and suffered a loss of Rs 20.57 crore.

Sources said the company wanted more time to pay workers' dues but the Trinamul government was in no mood to oblige them as the Assembly elections just months away.

The CID, contrary to reports yesterday, is not probing the non-submission of employees' provident fund (PF) by the management of Rungli Rungliot.