Two persons have been arrested in connection with the life-threatening attack on Sudhan Gurung, who has been consistently flagging alleged irregularities in teacher recruitment in the hills.

Police arrested Ajit Rai, 36, and Vivek Gurung, 32, around 1am on Monday. They are residents of Singtom, 8km from Darjeeling.

Sources said the arrest was made after examining CCTV footage in the crime area.

Sudhan was attacked around 8pm on May 8 near the Darjeeling supermarket area, which is near the Darjeeling Sadar police station and the traffic police office.

Sources said the police found that Ajit was moving suspiciously and seemed to follow Sudhan while communicating with someone.

Sudhan was being followed from Gorkha Haat, a local market held in Darjeeling every Thursday.

It is learnt that Ajit was then joined by Vivek. The duo then fled the crime scene

The police first picked up Ajit from his residence, and he then led them to Vivek’s house. The police claimed that Vivek had admitted to the crime.

“Police have filed a case for attempt to murder and causing grievous injury with a sharp weapon. The chief judicial magistrate’s court has remanded the accused in police custody for three days,” said Pankaj Prasad, assistant public prosecutor of Darjeeling district court.

The investigators want to reconstruct the crime scene and recover the assault weapon.

Sudhan, who received seven stitches on his head, is undergoing treatment at the Darjeeling district hospital. He had alleged that the attackers had aimed for his neck, but he had been hit on the head when he had dodged.

The attack on Sudhan was condemned not only by political parties but also by social organisations. A rally was also held in Darjeeling on Saturday seeking justice for Sudhan.

Sudhan, the president of the Trained Unemployed Youth Welfare Organisation, has been alleging that many schoolteachers have been illegally recruited in the hills. He alleged that the process of appointing 313 teachers in 2019 was flawed.

Several leaders of the Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM) were appointed as teachers.

“The attack on me is related to the teacher’s recruitment issue,” Sudhan said soon after the attack.

The leaders of almost all Opposition parties in the hills expressed their support for Sudhan.

Anit Thapa, the chief executive of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration and the president of the BGPM, said on Monday that the guilty should be punished irrespective of their political affiliations.

The motive and the political affiliation of the accused were not immediately known.