Asif Khan at the Barasat court on Saturday. Picture by Sanjib Chaki

Calcutta, Nov. 8: Businessman Rajaram Saraf, whom the police allegedly badgered into lodging a fraud complaint against former Trinamul functionary Asif Khan, himself faces several unresolved criminal cases, The Telegraph has learnt from his business associates.

Khan, who recently quit Trinamul and is seen as a potential approver in the Saradha case, was arrested on Thursday on Saraf’s complaint, lodged a day after Khan had secured anticipatory bail in another cheating case.

Amid murmurs in the state administration that Khan was arrested in a hurry to gag a Saradha witness who could embarrass the ruling party, a senior IPS officer said not connected with the case said: “While it’s true that someone accused in a criminal case has the right to lodge a complaint against another, it’s the investigating agency’s duty to check the claims first.”

No one in the Bidhannagar police wanted to be quoted when asked about the trigger behind Khan’s arrest.

A senior Bidhannagar officer had told this newspaper the force had merely carried out a court warrant — but another officer emphasised that few of the hundreds of criminal complaints lodged every day were so promptly forwarded to court with a plea for a warrant.

A senior Saraf Group manager had yesterday said the complaint against Khan had been lodged on September 4 following repeated nudges over the phone from a Bidhannagar officer. The police have denied making such calls.

This newspaper has come across at least three complaints against Saraf and his company that are either pending with the courts or have been classified by the police as a “civil matter” that does not require criminal proceedings.

One is a double property deal between Saraf Infraprojects Ltd and the Jain group of industries relating to the upcoming Radisson Blu project near the Hastings area and a property in Tangra.

The Jains have approached Calcutta High Court saying they had bought shares of the proposed hotel near Hastings and that Saraf had cheated them, sources said. The project got stalled after the army objected to its proximity to Fort William.

Documents show that the General Officer Commanding, Bengal Area, had requested the municipal commissioner in February 2011 to demolish the building “as this has been constructed without obtaining the sanction of the central government”.

Another businessman, Suneil Sarawgi, who had bought commercial space at the proposed hotel site, moved court against Saraf and his company on cheating charges last year.

“I bought 7,500sqft of commercial space in that plot from Rajaram Saraf. However, when the project was called off, he returned the money through cheques that eventually bounced. He never informed us that he did not have the NOC (no-objection certificate) from the army,” Sarawgi said.

Several hearings of the case have come up at a Calcutta court but the Sarafs — father Rajaram and son and co-accused Niket — failed to turn up for most of them citing medical reasons, sources said.

The third case relates to a dispute over a flat in an apartment block developed by the Saraf Group at a prime location on Rowland Road. It has led to a complaint with Ballygunge police station.

“Rajaram Saraf allegedly took advance money from two people for the same flat,” a source in the real estate market said.

“When the matter was reported to the police, father and son were summoned to the Ballygunge police station — but no case was drawn up on the plea that it was a civil matter.”

Senior lawyers said that even if the flat had not been resold to a second person, just the alleged decision to accept an advance from a second party during the existence of the first agreement would attract charges of criminal breach of trust.

Repeated calls by this newspaper to Saraf, and a text message seeking his reactions to the allegations, evoked no response.