CAIRO: An Italian student who was tortured and murdered in Egypt had been detained by police and then transferred to a compound run by Homeland Security the day he vanished, intelligence and police sources say. The claims contradict the official Egyptian account that security services had not arrested him.

Giulio Regeni, a 28-year-old postgraduate student, disappeared on Jan. 25, friends say. His body was found on Feb. 3, dumped on the side of a road outside Cairo. It showed signs of torture, according to forensic and prosecution officials in Egypt.

Egyptian officials have strongly denied any involvement in Regeni’s death. Soon after his body was found, police suggested he was the victim of a car accident. Weeks later they said he might have been killed by a criminal gang impersonating policemen.

But three Egyptian intelligence officials and three police sources independently told Reuters the police had custody of Regeni at some point before he died.

Asked if Regeni had been taken to the Izbakiya police station in Cairo, as some of the sources asserted, an official in the Interior Ministry said: “We did not issue a statement on this matter.”

Mohamed Ibrahim, an official in the media department of Homeland Security, said: “There is no connection whatsoever between Regeni and the police or Interior Ministry or Homeland Security. He has never been held in any police station or here. The only time he came into contact with police was when the police officials stamped his passport when he landed in Egypt.

“If we had any suspicions concerning his activities the solution would have been simple: Expel him.”

A senior forensic official told Reuters that Regeni had seven broken ribs, signs of electrocution on his penis, traumatic injuries all over his body, and a brain hemorrhages. He had been killed by a sharp blow to the head.

An Egyptian man was picked up at the same time. Three sources gave his name but Reuters was unable to verify the man’s identity. His connection to Regeni, if any, is unclear.

It is also unclear why the men were picked up, though all the sources said the two had not been specifically targeted but were detained as part of a general security sweep.

On March 24, Egyptian police said they had discovered Regeni’s bag and passport following a shootout with a criminal gang whose members had in the past posed as policemen. Police suggested he might have been a victim of this gang.

Italian officials have dismissed the story. Regeni’s family have said they believe the student was not killed for criminal gain.