Chandigarh, Oct 25 (IANS): Tension prevailed in Haryana's Jind town Friday after police allegedly cremated the body of a missing youth thinking that it was an unclaimed one.

Angry members of a khap (community) protested against police and even held a city magistrate, Satbir Singh, hostage for some time. The magistrate was allowed to go only after district administration officers intervened.

The victim, Amit, 20, who was the son of a leading businessman in Jind, had been missing since Oct 3 when he had gone for his coaching classes. His family had received a ransom call demanding Rs.10 lakh for his release. His father, Karambir, lodged a complaint with police.

Police, which could not find Amit, found a body of a youth near an irrigation canal on Oct 5. However, they did not inform anyone aand cremated it thinking that it was an unclaimed one. Amit's family came to know later and identified him from the clothes found by police.

Amit's father alleged that police did not even inform him about the recovery of the body.

However, the local police said that they informed about the recovery of the body through local newspapers and channels but no one came forward to claim it.

On Friday, members of the Kandela Khap, to which the victim's family belongs, held a protest and later held the magistrate hostage after he went to pacify them. The official was freed after the deputy commissioner and superintendent of police intervened.

The khap has given a deadline till Oct 28 to the police to arrest the accused behind the abduction and murder of Amit. It said that if action was not taken against the accused and the policemen responsible for cremation of the body, the Khap will start an agitation in the district.