55yo man dies during police raid in Sambhal village

Bareilly: A 55-year-old man died during a police raid in Naranganpur village under Kailadevi police station limits in Sambhal district on Tuesday night, leading to allegations of police excess, which officials denied.Police said the raid was conducted by a team from Badaun district in connection with a case involving the elopement of a woman. Officials said Har Charan Das's son had allegedly eloped around 10 days ago with his daughter's sister-in-law, following which a case was registered at Bisauli police station in Badaun. Though the FIR was filed against his son, the police were also searching for Har Charan Das.Villagers alleged that when the police team reached the village around 9 pm, Har Charan Das panicked and tried to flee. They claimed he was pushed during the chase, fell to the ground, suffered a serious head injury and died on the spot. Family members accused police personnel of causing his death.Police, however, said the man collapsed while attempting to run and died on the way to hospital. The body was later taken into custody by Kailadevi police and sent for postmortem.Officials said the Badaun police team had earlier searched Haibatpur village under Hayatnagar area but found no one there. The team made an entry at Kailadevi police station around 7.30 pm and allegedly proceeded to Naranganpur without local police assistance.Police said Har Charan Das had been staying at his in-laws' house in Naranganpur for several days to evade arrest and that his location was traced before the raid.Kailadevi SHO Jitendra Kumar Verma said a postmortem was conducted and no visible external injuries were found on the body. "The cause of death will be known after the postmortem report arrives," he said, adding no written complaint was received from the family so far.