The arrests were made late on Tuesday night after the two missionaries filed a complaint against unknown assailants who beat them up at Ichalkaranji village on May seven before being arrested on a charge of converting people.
According to S S Shinde, the investigating officer, the arrested activists owed allegiance to Bajrang Dal and Shiv Sena. Meanwhile, a court at Ichalkaranji remanded the two priests from Karnataka to police custody till May 11 against whom the Hindutva activists had filed a complaint alleging attempt to convert people under coercion.
The sub-divisional magistrate, Ichalkaranji, Yuvraj Poman told PTI that the priests could not name the attackers but the authorities were acting on the description given by them and eyewitness account of the incident.
Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray who addressed a party rally in Pune on Tuesday night, asserted that his party would firmly stand behind those pro-hindutva elements who were fighting against conversions carried out by exploiting economically weaker sections of the society.
