82-year-old man dies during police raid at house, probe on

An 82-year-old man allegedly died of cardiac arrest on Sunday when police raided his house in the dead of the night in search of his son, an accused in a cattle smuggling case, in Jharkhand's Khunti district, an officer said.

Khunti's Superintendent of Police (SP) Aman Kumar said that a magistrate-level investigation will be conducted into the case.

A special police team reached Rodo village in Torpa police station area, around 60 km from state capital Ranchi, around 1 am to arrest one Izhar Ahmed alias Kallu, an accused in a cattle smuggling case.

As a search was underway at his house, Kallu's father Md Nizamuddin suddenly fell on the floor and died. Police said he died of cardiac arrest, while villagers alleged that he died after police pushed him.

Local sources claimed that the irate villagers gheraoed the police personnel who were conducting the raid. They were released after a team led by sub-divisional officer Aniket Sachan and deputy superintendent of police Omprakash Tiwary reached the village and spoke to the villagers.

Sachan, however, denied that members of the special team were held by the villagers.

Police said post-mortem found that Nizamuddin died of cardiac arrest.

The SP termed the incident unfortunate.

"A magisterial investigation will be done into the villagers' allegations. A team will soon visit the village, and talk to the villagers to get the details," he said.