India, Nov. 11 -- Odisha Police have arrested five persons for allegedly desecrating a sacred place of worship of the Santal community in Basantpur village of Keonjhar district,

The accused, identified as Chandan Sethy, Dibyajyoti Puhan, Akshay Kumar Sahoo, Suresh Mallick and Srichandan Puhan, were arrested by Ghasipura police on Tuesday.

The arrest came 12 days after the alleged incident was reported and almost three weeks after it occurred.

According to the FIR lodged by tribal villagers on October 29, the incident occurred on October 23 when members of the Santal community were worshipping at a sacred grove, locally known as Jaher Than. The complaint alleged that around 15 to 20 people, allegedly armed with knives, iron rods and sti...