Calcutta mayor Firhad Hakim’s officer-on-special duty has been accused of extorting money using the name of Trinamul general secretary Abhishek Banerjee.

The complaint against Kalicharan Banerjee was lodged at the Shakespeare Sarani police station in Calcutta on Friday afternoon.

Confirming the allegations, a source close to the Diamond Harbour MP said: “We have received complaints from multiple sources that this person has been introducing himself as close to the national general secretary and in exchange for money promised to get their job done.”

The source could not clarify the nature of jobs that the accused had promised to be delivered, the amount he had raised and for how long he had been engaged in the activities he is accused of.

The complaint was lodged on behalf of Banerjee by Ayan Ghosh Dastidar, who has introduced himself as an employee of the Diamond Harbour MP and resident of Bhowanipore.

“Recently it was brought to our notice that one Kalicharan Banerjee who is currently serving as the OSD to the Mayor of Kolkata, has been claiming to be a close aide/adviser of Abhishek Banerjee and swindling/extorting money from the public including businessmen, government officials and common men,” the complaint in English read.

“He is misrepresenting himself to be an influential person having access and close nexus to Abhishek Banerjee in order to defraud and cheat people of their monies… In lieu of falsely promising favours by using the high offices of the MP, the accused person with the help/assistance of other unknown persons has been extorting money from people and using it for his own unjust enrichment,” it added.

The complaint said the accused had amassed crores of money using this modus operandi.

The complaint continued: “The said person has created an impression that he is a highly influential person, and then he has been falsely projecting that he is a close confidant of Abhishek Banerjee. By doing so, he has induced many people to repose their faith and belief in him, thereby winning their trust on the basis of false promises and assurances. In exchange he has been illegally collecting huge sums of money from gullible individuals with a promise that he will ensure favours from them through Abhishek Banerjee’s offices. However, he has not fulfilled any promises as he has no connections with Abhishek Banerjee whatsoever.”

Bengal’s Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikary, who was at the Assembly on Friday, said he had spoken about the complaints against the OSD.

“A new Trinamul office is being built at Topsia with a budget of Rs 200 crore. Kali was given the responsibility to raise the funds for the project. I had said long back Kali is the owner of seven flats. He has even more property than [jailed former Trinamul leader] Partha Chatterjee,” Adhikary alleged.

Hakim, who was also at the Assembly, said he was not aware of any such complaint and dismissed it as baseless.

“I am hearing this for the first time,” the powerful Trinamul leader said. “If there were any such complaints he [Abhishek] could have informed me. I would have conducted an inquiry. If a baseless complaint is filed against any person what am I supposed to do? I don’t know anything about this issue.”