Several members of the family of a 25-year-old Adivasi man, who died in police custody in Madhya Pradesh’s Guna district ahead of his wedding, held a protest on Tuesday, during which some women relatives disrobed to mark their objection to the incident, The Indian Express reported.

While the police claimed that the man, identified as Deva Pardhi, died of a heart attack in custody, the family rejected the explanation, The Hindu reported.

Ahead of his wedding on Sunday, Pardhi and his uncle Gangaram were arrested for alleged theft. Later that night, Pardhi’s family was informed that he had died.

On Monday, Pardhi’s fiancée tried to set herself on fire but was rescued by the locals and the police, The Hindu reported. Gangaram’s wife, Surajbai, also attempted to do the same and suffered injuries.

Surajbai later told The Indian Express that Pardhi was picked up by the police around 4.30 pm on Sunday as he was “wearing his sherwani and about to leave” for the wedding venue.

“We tried to follow them,” she was quoted as saying. “Late at night, we received information from the district hospital… On reaching the hospital, we found out that Deva had died in custody.”

On Tuesday, Pardhi’s family members organised a protest outside the district collector’s office to demand an inquiry.

Some of the women relatives took off their clothes in protest when the police officers tried to remove them from the premises, The Hindu reported. Several persons were injured in the process, The Indian Express quoted an unidentified police officer as saying.

“How can a young boy die of a heart attack?” one of the women said, according to The Indian Express. “The police beat him up. His uncle was also beaten.”

The family members also demanded that Gangaram be admitted to the hospital for treatment.

Following the protest, Additional Superintendent of Police Maan Singh Thakur told The Hindu that a first information report was filed against the protesting women. He also added that a magisterial investigation was ordered to look into Pardhi’s death in view of the family’s demand.

According to Thakur, Pardhi and Gangaram were arrested in a theft case in the jurisdiction of the Myana police station.

“Deva [Pardhi] complained of chest pain at around 6 pm when he was being taken for the recovery [of the stolen items],” The Hindu quoted Thakur as saying. “He was immediately taken to the local hospital but as there was no doctor available, he was referred to the district hospital.”

He said that Pardhi died after 45 minutes of treatment, adding that a postmortem had been ordered to determine the cause of his death.

Pardhi was an accused in several cases, according to reports.

Also read: The Tamil Nadu police’s brutal violence against the state’s weakest citizens