SILCHAR, Sept. 17 -- A member of the Foreigners Tribunal (FT) in Assam's Udalguri district has been arrested on charges of demanding a bribe to release a person on bail, a senior police officer said on Thursday.

Bhupen Chandra Pegu was arrested on Thursday on the basis of an investigation into the complaint received against FT member Bhupen Chandra Pegu on August 29, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Udalguri, Padmanabh Barua said.

The Foreigners Tribunal is a quasi-judicial body in Assam that determines if an individual is an illegal immigrant or a foreigner, and has the power to order detention of suspected foreigners in a designated camp.

Assam has about 100 such functional tribunals.

Police said Pegu, who has been a member of...