Berhampur, Sept. 1: Two persons were arrested today for allegedly breaking teeth of two villagers and forcing them to eat human excreta at Jagadevpur village on suspicion of practising black magic.

The police are looking for two of their associates.

The accused, Govinda Nayak and Bancha Nayak, and the victims, Basu Nayak, 48, Bancha Nayak, 52, are from the same village.

It is alleged that the accused were told by a tantrik that their children were not recovering from a "mysterious illness" as Basu and Bancha were practising black magic.

On Tuesday evening, the accused with the help of two others allegedly caught hold of the two victims and tied their hands and legs with ropes.

Then they broke their teeth with a piece of stone in front of other villagers and forced them to eat human excreta, a cop said.

The police arrested the two after the family members of the victims lodged an FIR against four villagers, said sub-divisional police officer P.K. Jena on Thursday. The incident occurred three days ago, Jena said.

Inspector in charge of Jarada police station Sujit Kumar Nayak said after a rumour spread that two villagers were punished for practising sorcery<>. There is tension in the village and we have deployed police force to avoid any untoward incident. We have arrested two after the family members lodged FIR. and two others are absconding."