MEERUT: Police had to finally give in to the demands of the agitating family of Narendra Singh (35) who was arrested on cow slaughter charges along with three others by Mawana police here on April 21. Singh died in jail on April 24 and his family had alleged torture by the police at the behest of a local gram pradhan. An FIR for murder has now been lodged against the accused policemen.

An inquiry by the Meerut superintendent of police (SP) found the cow slaughter charges to be false. The three accused policemen, including SHO of Mawana police station Brijesh Kushawaha have already been suspended pending a magisterial probe into the custodial death.

“We tried to pacify the agitating family to wait for findings of the magisterial probe but they were adamant that a case of murder be lodged against the policemen. I have ordered an FIR to be lodged based on the complaint of the family,” Rajesh Kumar, SP (rural areas), said.

The family alleged that Narendra was tortured so much that his nails had come off. Police however claimed that Narendra, an alcoholic and a drug addict, was mentally unstable when he was lodged in jail and in poor health. The post-mortem report had claimed asphyxia due to inhalation of fluids as the reason of death, with no fatal ante-mortem injuries.

Meanwhile, the indefinite hunger strike by Narendra’s family entered the fourth day on Sunday. A mahapanchayat by the Gujjar community led by Samajwadi Party leader Atul Pradhan was organised at Narendra’s residence in Pallavpuram here on Sunday. The mahapanchayat was a stormy affair with four BJP MLAs including senior party leader Avtar Singh Bhadana also present.

“An all-party delegation will meet chief minister Yogi Adityanath regarding the demands of Narendra’s family, including compensation and a government job to a member of the family,” Bhadana said.

Earlier, police had decided to drop cow slaughter charges against Rohit Rana, Arvind Kumar and Honey (who goes by his first name) who were arrested with Narendra after the carcasses of two cows were found in a mini-truck on April 21.