New Delhi, Dec 26 (IANS): The Delhi Police Wednesday shifted the investigation into the death of a policeman during the recent protests in the capital to the crime branch, an official said Wednesday.

S.B.S. Tyagi, deputy commissioner of police (crime) told IANS: "By today (Wednesday) or tomorrow (Thursday) we will get the official order (in connection with handing the case to the crime branch)."

According to police, Subhash Chand Tomar, 47, was brutally beaten near India Gate during street protests Sunday against the gang-rape of the 23-year-old woman whose condition remains critical.

Police said Tomar was injured in the chest, neck and head, and that protestors had kicked and punched him after he fell on the street.

The policeman was cremated Tuesday with state honours.

The medical superintendent of the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, however, had said that Tomar's body had no external injuries, and that he had suffered a cardiac arrest.

Delhi Police refused to comment on the claims made by the hospital.

"We are waiting for the post-mortem report and would not like to comment on the issue," the spokesperson of police, Rajan Bhagat, said.

Police arrested eight people Sunday night for the alleged attack on Tomar. The eight were granted bail the next day.

Police said Wednesday, a day after Tomar died, that the eight have been booked for murder.