As many as seven members of Bir Lachit Sena have been arrested by Golaghat Police on charges of extortion and threatening a businessman.

They were arrested on Monday under various sections of the IPC.

As per reports, the arrestees allegedly shut down a mobile phone shop accusing the owner (a non-Assamese) of not paying pending salaries to one its “Assamese” employees.

The arrested members were identified as Dipen Gogoi, Tarun Lahon, Rintu Gogoi, Jayanta Gogoi, Dipjyoti talukdar, Guno Hazarika and Dwipen Gogoi.

Meanwhile, a member of the organization said the accusations are false saying that they had not demanded any money.

He added that the members only tried to help an Assamese citizen who was in distress due to financial crisis. Hence, they demanded that the shop owner pay up his pending salaries.

The organization also claimed that they were framed by the shop owner who has connections with the police.