Bangalore, Oct. 21: Five Hindus are among six youths arrested on charges of smearing cow dung on a Vijaya Dashami banner depicting Ram, with the intention of stoking communal tension, in a north Karnataka district.

Police said the youths, all in their twenties, had hoisted the banner in Shahabad, a minority-dominated locality in Gulbarga, before dawn on October 12, defaced it and disappeared.

Gulbarga police superintendent N. Shashi Kumar said the youths, arrested the next day and now in 14 days' judicial custody, had admitted to the intent to cause communal trouble. He declined to say if they were from the Sri Ram Sene, a hardline group, although five allegedly had links with the outfit in the past.

The youths have been charged under IPC Section 153A (promoting enmity between communities) and Section 295A (deliberate and malicious intent in insulting religious belief). If found guilty, they could face jail terms of up to four years.

"At this stage, I cannot say if they are Sri Ram Sene members as investigations are still on to establish their background and any possible links with any organisation," SP Kumar said.

At a protest held on October 13, the Sene had demanded the arrest of those behind the "sacrilegious" act.

In January 2012, six Sene activists were arrested for hoisting the Pakistan flag on a government building in Bijapur in north Karnataka. This followed days of protests after the same flag was hoisted atop the tehsildar's office in Sindgi town in Bijapur district.

Sene honorary president Siddalinga Mahaswami, who heads the Karuneshwar Math in Bijapur, said the youths arrested in the banner case were "innocent young men with no links to the Sri Ram Sene".

"I don't understand why our name is being sullied. These boys are just friends who were not even involved in this incident," said Siddalinga, declining to say how he was sure of their innocence.