Vedic Village on fire on Sunday night. A Telegraph picture

Contrasting voices about whether Vedic Village is accountable for the weapons found on its premises emerged from Writers’ Buildings after police interrogated officials of the luxury resort to “verify” their alleged links with fugitive land shark Gaffar Mollah.

“We spoke to four officials of Vedic Village to know their version of Sunday’s incident, their relationship with Gaffar and the arms haul following the flare-up,” Rahul Srivastava, the superintendent of police of North 24-Parganas, told Metro.

Sources said managing director Raj K. Modi, chief executive officer Michael Robertson, manager Biplab Biswas and the security chief of the luxury resort were questioned separately over four hours on Tuesday evening.

Chief secretary Ashok Mohan Chakrabarti said on Wednesday that the Vedic Village authorities could not be implicated in any illegal activity on the basis of arms and ammunition being found in the resort. But PWD minister Kshiti Goswami took the opposite stand.

“The Vedic Village authorities should be arrested immediately as many arms have been found on their premises,’’ Goswami said. The minister insisted that there were laws “to file cases if somebody is found to possess arms illegally” and that the government “cannot shirk responsibility”. He warned of a public backlash if the government dragged its feet like it did in the Rizwanur Rahman suicide case.

“In the Rizwanur case, the government hesitated in taking action. That’s why people’s sentiments went against us,’’ Goswami said.

A bullet allegedly fired by someone from Gaffar’s mastan bahini (gang of toughs) during a football brawl next to Vedic Village on Sunday killed a 20-year-old vegetable wholesaler watching the match. The incident triggered a mob attack that left parts of the resort gutted.

The police are investigating whether the alleged Gaffar-Vedic Village connection — he is said to have facilitated several land deals for the management, using muscle when money wouldn’t work — had anything to do with the mob attack.

The chief secretary argued that Gaffar’s arrest was crucial to determining the extent of Vedic Village’s alleged dealings with him.

“While it is true that arms and ammunition have been found at Vedic Village, it doesn’t specifically make the authorities (of the resort) responsible. Before unearthing facts, we cannot say whether the owners can be arrested or not. If arms or bombs are found lying in one corner of Writers’ Buildings, can the chief secretary be held responsible?” he asked.

Sources said investigators were not convinced by the claims of resort officials that they knew Gaffar only as a supplier of building materials and were unaware of his criminal activities.

“We noticed discrepancies in the versions of the four officials. Moreover, none of them could give a plausible reason for Gaffar’s aides taking shelter at Vedic Village and the presence of weapons in one of the huts,” an officer said.