The family of Ravi Sisodia cremated him on Friday after striking a bargain with the local administration over compensation and an investigation against Mohammad Akhlaq's family, three days after the 21-year-old died in a hospital in Delhi.
Under the agreement, the family will receive ₹25 lakh compensation - 10 lakhs from the government, ₹10 lakh from social institutions, and ₹5 lakh from Bharatiya Janata Party leaders Mahesh Sharma and Sangeet Som, The Indian Express reported. The family's original demand was for ₹1 crore.
Ravi was among the 18 arrested for beating to death Akhlaq, a ironsmith from Bisada village in the Dadri tehsil of Uttar Pradesh, on the night of September 28. He was rumoured to have slaughtered a calf and consumed beef along with his family.
After spending one year at the Kasna jail in Uttar Pradesh, Ravi was taken ill on Tuesday and rushed to a hospital in Delhi, where he died of "kidney and respiratory failure."
Alleging foul play and gross negligence on part of the administration, Ravi's family refused to bury him. Instead, they put his body in a deep-freezer casket which was covered with the Tricolour.
The UP administration has also agreed to a CBI probe into Ravi's death, and to a 11-member committee of residents and lawmakers from the area to monitor the police investigation on the charge of cow slaughter against Akhlaq and his family members, The Indian Expressreported.
Ravi is survived by his wife and a one-year-old daughter. "I have promised to look after the entire education of his one-year-old daughter. We will ensure that his wife receives education and employment, we can also provide her computer training," N.P. Singh, District Magistrate, Gautam Budh Nagar, told the newspaper.
Som, a lawmaker in Uttar Pradesh, and Sharma, union minister for culture, helped broker the agreement between Ravi's family and the police. "Met the family of deceased Ravi in Bisara village, Greater Noida. Bisara get settled now," Sharma tweeted.
While there were initial reports that Ravi had contracted Dengue or Chikungunya, the cause for Ravi's illness is still not clear, and the police are yet to disclose the postmortem report. His family and local villagers have alleged that he was severely beaten up inside the prison, and may even have been poisoned.
A large number of police personnel have been deployed to Bisada village to prevent any flare up which could lead to communal violence, and large gatherings have been prohibited.
Right-wing leader Sadhvi Prachi of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad had visited the village in this tense atmosphere, and made a speech demanding that the Samajwadi Party-run state government compensate Ravi's family for his death.
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