More than 24 hours after a 16-year-old student was allegedly beaten to death by a group of young men in Karnal’s Dholgarh village, the district police were yet to arrest the accused, even as the grieving family demanded justice.Eye-witnesses said that the boy kept on asking them the reason, while the accused kept on thrashing him, even when he had gone unconscious. (HT Photo for representation)While inspector Tarsem Chand, station house officer (SHO) of the Karnal Sadar police station, did not said anything on the arrests. He, however, said a case was registered on the complaint of Nafe Singh, the uncle of the deceased, against unknown men. The body was handed over to the family for last rites. He added that investigators were scanning CCTV footage of the area and recording statements from eyewitnesses.SP Narendra Bijarniya did not respond to calls to confirm any arrests. However, officials privy to the matter said a few men have been detained and an official confirmation will be provided on Thursday.According to the police complaint, the deceased, Prateek Kashyap, was a student of Class 10 at a local school and was returning home from a Hanuman Temple on his bike, when he came under attack by three men. The deceased was the only brother of two sisters.The complainant said that the bike-borne accused, who were following Prateek, cornered the deceased and began beating him with sticks, nearly 500 metres ahead of the village.Eye-witnesses said that the boy kept on asking them the reason, while the accused kept on thrashing him, even when he had gone unconscious. The victim was taken to a private hospital, where he was declared dead. A post-martem was conducted on Wednesday. Police said that the report showed multiple deep and deadly injuries on various body parts of the deceased’s body.Dalel Singh, the grandfather of the deceased, said that the family was clueless behind the enmity and only wanted justice. A prominent community member present at the morgue claimed that police have detained three accused. However, he was also unsure of the reason behind the killing.