Two people have been detained in connection with the sensational tonsuring of eight Christians, seven of them women, at Kilipala village in Orissa's Jagatsinghpur district, police said on Monday.
The investigations into the incident were on, they said.
All the victims were Christians and were asked by a group of people from the same village to reconvert to Hinduism.
When they refused, they were threatened with dire consequences forcing ten of them to flee the village on February nine.
The villagers then beat up seven women and the pastor of the local congregation and tonsured them on February 10, some of the victims, who have taken shelter at Bhubaneswar, said.
Twenty villagers including two infants had left the village following the attack, they said.
Police had registered a case in this connection against eight persons including two women. Two of them had been taken into custody, Jagatsinghpur Police Superintendent S K Palsania said.
The delay in arresting the culprits was caused due to the fact that the victims remained tightlipped after the incident, he said.