Keonjhar: Five persons were arrested on Tuesday in connection with the alleged desecration of a Jaher Than — a sacred worship site of the Santal community — at Basantpura village in the district. The arrests came more than two weeks after the Oct 23 incident and after villagers approached Keonjhar SP Nitin Kushalkar, seeking action.Police identified the five accused as Chandan Sethy, Dibyajyoti Puhan, Akshay Kumar Sahoo, Suresh Mallick and Srichandan Puhan, all aged in their 30s.According to the complaint, a group of men allegedly entered the Jaher Than armed with knives, iron rods and sticks while Santal villagers were performing rituals. The assailants allegedly damaged vessels used in the ritual and disrupted the worship.The complainants further alleged that women were manhandled and two youths were dragged for 30-40 metres by the men on motorcycles. Villagers were also allegedly threatened with loss of their rice quota if they reported the incident to police.Though a complaint was lodged the same day, villagers approached the Keonjhar SP on Tuesday after no arrests were made. Ghasipura police subsequently arrested the five from different places in the area. Anandpur SDPO Kamal Lochan Panda confirmed the arrests and said further investigation was underway.