Berhampur, Jan. 21: Police today arrested three persons for tonsuring eight villagers, including two women, suspecting them of practising witchcraft.

The incident occurred at Olapur in Chikiti block. It was alleged that the villagers also broke teeth of some of the victims. The arrested persons are Ram Behera, 45, Prasant Nayak, 25, and Tarini Nayak, 60. They were forwarded to the court today.

Nuagaon police station inspector-in-charge P.K. Das said one of the victims managed to escape and informed the cops about the incident yesterday.

'We have deployed adequate police force to maintain law and order in the village. Only two of the victims were in the village when the police reached the spot. They were rescued and admitted to a hospital for treatment. Others have fled from the village. They are with their relatives now. We are trying to locate them and record their statements,' Das said.

The victims have been identified as Dandapani Behera, 48, Mohan Sahu, 70, Subash Behera, 22, Keuta Behera, 28, Amar Behera, 18, Kartik Behera, 35, Jhunu Behera, 19 and Sushama Behera, 20.

Preliminary investigation revealed that Lata Behera, a 30-year-old villager who claimed to have been possessed by a village goddess, accused the eight victims of indulging in the witchcraft on Sunday.

'The villagers held a meeting on Sunday and summoned the victims. Lata identified them. The villagers then took the victims to a nearby field, tonsured them, broke the teeth of some of them and forced five of them to eat human excreta in front of all the villagers,' a police official said.

The villagers had also threatened to kill them if they disclosed the incident to any one, the official said.