Calcutta, May 22: Baruipur police today questioned a Saradha employee who used to strike land deals on behalf of the group.

Ashok Biswas’s interrogation followed information about addresses on the southern fringes of Calcutta in the name of Saradha boss Sudipta Sen and some of his staff members.

Biswas, a manager with Saradha Realty India Ltd, told the police that some of the properties, including land and office buildings, were bought in the name of Arindam Das alias Bumba, who headed the company’s operations in Baruipur. Das is absconding.

Biswas, the police said, had told them that many of the properties were bought without the knowledge of Sen.

“Biswas told us about many official and unofficial land dealings in the name of the company. We have come to know about a 35-bigha plot at Suryapur in Baruipur and another land parcel in Bishnupur,” said an officer who interrogated Biswas.

Biswas, a resident of Dhakuria, was questioned for three hours at the Alipore headquarters of South 24-Parganas police. Police sources said Biswas had told the cops that documents related to the land deals were kept in Saradha’s Salt Lake office.

Sen was also questioned at New Town police station today over his business dealings in South 24-Parganas.

“Sen has claimed that Das and another Saradha employee, Satyajit Basu, used to generate fake vouchers against investments made in the group’s deposit-mobilising schemes. Sen told us that he had warned Das against such malpractices but the latter did not pay any heed,” the officer said.

The Saradha chief told the police he had paid an advance of Rs 50 lakh each for an outhouse and a cinema hall in Baruipur.

The police have obtained a warrant from Baruipur court to search eight Saradha offices in South 24-Parganas.

Debjani no-show

The additional chief judicial magistrate of Bidhannagar court today expressed displeasure at the police for not producing Sen’s deputy, Debjani Mukherjee, in court today.

The police told the court that Debjani, who is lodged in Sonarpur jail, was ill. The judge also asked the superintendent of Dum Dum jail why Debjani was shifted to Alipore jail last week without informing the court. The superintendent has to reply by June 5.

Employee hangs self

Sumit Das, 22, who used to work as a clerk with Saradha in South Dinajpur’s Balurghat, was found hanging from the ceiling of his home today. Das’s family said he was depressed after the group shut shop.