The minister pointed out that the priests at the Kashi Viswanath temple in Varanasi were from Nepal. 'So the relations between us are very cordial.'

According to the external affairs ministry, the two priests were doing a religious ceremony behind closed doors for joining duties from Friday as required by the temple customs.

At about 1.30 p.m. Friday, around a dozen Maoist cadres, led by Punya Prasad Pandey (ex-member of Pashupati Area Development Trust) and Ramesh Dongel (ex-member of the trust), barged into the room where the two Indian priests were conducting the rituals and assaulted them.

India's ambassador to Nepal Rakesh Sood took up the matter immediately at the political level.

Senior Nepali police officers visited the site and have deployed a new security contingent, according to the external affairs ministry here.

A team from the Indian embassy visited the Pashupatinath Temple to reassure the Indian priests. 'We understand that the Nepali authorities have apprehended over 25 people in connection with this incident, including the ringleader,' Prakash said.

The Nepali authorities at the highest level have assured us that they are taking additional steps to ensure the safety and security of Indian priests in Nepal to resolve the problem, he said.

'The safety and security of Indian citizen's abroad is an abiding and core concern of the government of India and we continue to closely monitor the situation surrounding yesterday's unfortunate incident in Kathmandu,' the spokesperson added.