Guwahati, Aug 8 (IANS): A youth who reportedly died in police custody at Panikhaiti outpost here was tortured to death by police, his family members alleged on Wednesday.

Guwahati Commissioner of Police, H. Nath said that the deceased, identified as Chandan Bharali was arrested from Fancy Bazar area here and was kept in police custody . He went missing from the outpost around 11 pm on Tuesday. Later, Police recovered the body of the youth hanging from a tree near the police outpost."

Police is probing the incident, he added.

However, Chandan's relatives and public, refused to buy the theory and alleged that he was tortured to death by police in a custody and later, the body was hanged from a tree so as to make it look like a suicide.

"We have sent the body for post mortem and we also video graphed the whole incident. We will inform the National Human rights Commission as per the norms followed in case of custodial deaths," said the Police Commissioner.

"The police have tortured him to death. Later they hanged his body so that it look like a suicide. How can a person go missing from custody," said a relative of Chandan.

"The police has also sent the body of Chandan before arrival of the family members, which is not legal," the relative said demanding punishment for the guilty cops.