The arrested persons were Tuna Porti, Salai Porti and Birsingh Ho. Police have launched a massive manhunt to trace the assailants.

Meanwhile, angry church leaders on Saturday forced Chief Minister Giridhar Gamang to make a hasty retreat from the funeral site of Arul Doss here at the headquarters of the bishop. The chief minister who came here to attend the funeral left in a huff.

Aggrieved church leaders demanded immediate suspension of the Home Secretary Ajit Kumar Tripathy for his alleged statements against the Catholic priests.

The chief minister who came here along with several of his Cabinet colleagues, including Minister of State for HomePrasad Harichandan, Minister of State for Fisheries and Animal Resources Padma Lochan Panda, Minister for Women and Child Development Saraswati Hembram, was detained outside the room where the body was kept for long time. Only after some time he was allowed to pay floral tributes to Doss.

The church leaders bolted the room from inside when Harichandan said it was impossible to provide security to all the churches in the state. Stating that the place was not suitable to discuss their demands, he invited the church leaders to Bhubaneswar for discussions. However, the church leaders opened the room when the situation became tense. The chief minister left the spot in a huff.

After Gamang left the church premises, secretary to the Bishop of Catholic Mission, Balasore, Father Issac told newsmen that the chief minister expressed his government's inability to provide security to the churches. Describing Gamang's visit a `farce', he said it was the moral responsibility of the government to provide security to allthe citizens of the state.

Talking to newsmen, Bishop Thomas Theruthalli of Catholic Mission, Balasore and Father Jacob Kalupurakal of Anandpur Church said that the series of recent attacks on minorities proved that the law and order had collapsed in the state. The state administration had failed to provide security to the minorities.

Doss was laid to rest at the Church premises here at 3 pm in the presence of his parents and relatives. In yet another development, police have seized two used and three unused arrows from the spot where the priest was killed.