In his first comment on the assault, he told reporters in Gandhinagar, ``We have started taking action against the culprits and those involved have been arrested''.

The arrested -- Nagarjun Chaturvedi, Dhananjay Thakkar, Mukesh Goswami, Vijay Bhavsar and Mahir Vaidya -- have been charged under Sections 143, 147, 149, 451 and 323 of IPC for criminal trespass. They have since been released on bail.

Sachivalaya sources said the arrest apparently came in the wake of concern expressed by the National Commission for Minorities and the National Human Rights Commission in view of the growing incidents of attacks on Christians in different parts of the State.

Taking note of the newspaper reports, the NCM is learnt to have written a letter to Patel, expressing ``serious concern'' over the Vadodara incident. Even the National Human Rights Commission is reported to have began inquiring about the attack on the Christian delegates in that city.

Right-wing activists had swooped down on the delegates of the convention on October 29, alleging that Hindu tribals were being converted into Christianity.

According to Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) P K Valera, the arrests took more than usual time as neither the complainant nor the organisers of the convention provided the identity of the assailants.