Five men were arrested in connection with a threat call received by Englishbazar municipality chairman Krishendu Narayan Choudhry from "D company".

The “D company” refers to an organised crime syndicate led by Dawood Ibrahim.

"During the investigation, five persons were detained after the mobile phone number used to send messages to and call up Choudhury was tracked down. Sahadat Sheikh of Englishbazar called up the civic chief," said Pradeep Kumar Yadav, superintendent of police, Malda.

The investigation revealed that Sheikh had planned to extort money from Choudhury. “He wanted to clear the debts that he had incurred from his land broker business,” said Yadav.

On Friday, Choudhry had lodged a written complaint with the Englishbazar police.

The caller allegedly introduced himself as "Pradip" of "D Company” and asked Choudhry in Hindi to pay him "two peti" cash by Saturday morning, failing which he and his family members would be harmed.

"The name of 'D-company' was used to scare Choudhury. The caller spoke to the civic body chief in Hindi to give Choudhury an idea that the call was made from out of Bengal. In fact, the caller went to Calcutta and made the call from there. Later, he returned to Malda," the district police chief said.

The investigation also revealed that the mobile set and the SIM were arranged by the other members of the group.

The others apprehended are from Kaliachak police station areas while one was arrested from Bihar.

Choudhury said: "I have heard that police made arrests but I am wondering if someone is egging the youths to extort money from me."