Two Kalimpong residents were arrested on Tuesday night for allegedly extorting money in the name of Gorkha Janmukti Morcha leader Bimal Guring from the head of a private education institution in Siliguri.

A court here on Wednesday remanded Dipesh Trikhatri and Tara Pariyar in police custody for five days.

The duo were arrested by the cyber police station of Siliguri Metropolitan Police following a complaint filed by the education institute at Dagapur here.

Police sources said Trikhatri had made a phone call to the institute on July 8 and introduced himself as the private assistant of Gurung. “He asked for Rs 1 lakh for the party’s fund. The authorities of the institute believed him and the following day, they deposited the amount in a bank account that Trikhatri had mentioned. They again received a call on July 10 and were asked to pay Rs 2 lakh,” said a police officer.

The second call made the institute authorities suspicious. They made some inquiries and found out that Gurung’s party hadn’t made any such fund demand.

On July 12, a complaint was filed at the cyber police station.

“We tracked down Trikhatri and found out that the bank account is in the name of Pariyar. Both were arrested from Kalimpong last night,” the officer said.

Police sources said Trikhatri had been arrested in 2018 on a similar attempt. He had allegedly tried to extort money then in the name of Binay Tamang, who quit the Morcha last week.

Reacting to the arrests, Gurung said in Darjeeling on Wednesday: “The arrested men have no connection with our party. Police should take appropriate action against them.”