Two BJP leaders were arrested on Thursday for allegedly extorting money from a woman in order to get her brother out of jail, officials said. They identified the arrested men as BJP's Bandipora district president Abdul Rehman Tikri and sarpanch Mushtaq Ahmad.

The woman, in her complaint, alleged that she approached the BJP leaders seeking their intervention to get her brother released, the officials said without divulging further details. BJP spokesman Altaf Thakur confirmed the development and said the "law will take its own course". Further investigation is underway, the officials said.