A laboratory report on a meat sample taken from the shanty of a migrant worker from Bengal who was lynched by cow vigilantes in BJP-ruled Haryana two months ago has confirmed that it is not beef, police said on Saturday.

Sabir Malik, 22, was beaten to death on August 27 on the suspicion that he had eaten beef. So far, the police have arrested 10 of the 16 accused in connection with the murder.

A probe had revealed that Malik had come to the state to work as a ragpicker and was living with his wife and two-year-old daughter in a shanty in Hansawas Khurd village in Haryana’s Charkhi Dadri district.

“The meat sample from the shanty had been taken and sent for testing to a laboratory in Faridabad. We have received the report, which has confirmed that it was not beef,” deputy superintendent of police, Badhra (Charkhi Dadri), Bharat Bhushan told reporters.

Hours before Malik was lynched, a group of youths had called the police claiming that beef was being cooked and consumed in shanties in the village. The police had seized the meat sent for testing.

“The accused had called Malik to a nearby shop under the pretence of selling empty plastic bottles and beat himup. When some locals intervened, they allegedly tookhim to another place and assaulted him again, which resulted in his death. His body was later discovered near the shanty where he lived,” said a police officer.

Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, the largest Muslim organisation in the country, had then said Malik’s lynching was deliberately planned to polarise voters and communalise the atmosphere ahead of the Assembly polls in Haryana.

Sources in Haryana police said the lab report would be submitted before the trial court.

Days after Malik’s murder, a group of cow vigilantes had allegedly shot dead Aryan Mishra, a Class XII student, in Haryana’s Faridabad. The police said the accused told them that they mistook Aryan for a cattle smuggler.

A former Haryana police official said these cow vigilantes belonged to the Bajrang Dal in Haryana and were part of the cow-protection task force that was allegedly supported by local BJP leaders.

Haryana, which has 90 Assembly seats, had voted on October 5 and the BJP secured a historic third term by winning 48 seats.