A 30-year-old Dalit died in police custody in Amroha district of Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday, with his wife alleging that the father of four was thrashed to death by policemen who had demanded Rs 5 lakh to free him.

Police said Bal Kishan, 30, of Basi Sherpur village in Dhanaura was picked up on Tuesday night for questioning in a vehicle theft case. He was not a suspect but had recently bought a second-hand scooter that had turned out to be stolen.

“He had recently bought a stolen scooter. We wanted to know about the person who had sold it to him,” said Arvind Sharma, in-charge of Dhanaura police station, who has been suspended after protests over the custody death.

The police claim that Kishan fell ill while in custody and was rushed to the district hospital on Wednesday morning, where he was declared dead on arrival.

But Kishan’s wife Kunti Devi has contested this, saying her husband was “kidnapped” by the police on Saturday and had been beaten to death.

“The police are lying that he was picked up on Tuesday. In fact, the police had kidnapped him on Saturday. We used to visit the police station many times in a day. The police would beat him in the lock-up and were mounting pressure to accept that he was a vehicle thief,” Kunti told journalists.

The couple have four children, aged between 2 years and 8 years.

“The police were demanding Rs 5 lakh to release him. We had given them Rs 1 lakh on Tuesday but they refused to let him go,” Kunti alleged.

Raj Kumar, a villager, supported Kunti’s allegation and said: “We had collected Rs 1 lakh in cash and given it to a sub-inspector with the hope that they would release Kishan. But they killed him.”

Kishan was a small farmer who would also work as a labourer in the fields of bigger landowners.

His wife said there were injury marks on Kishan’s body, on the back and thighs, when the villagers went to the hospital.

The villagers learnt of Kishan’s death at 9.30am and erupted in protests, blocking the Badaun-Panipat state highway for about three hours and damaging two jeeps.

“We have suspended 11 policemen, including in-charge of Dhanaura police station Arvind Sharma, after the death of the youth and started a probe. Cases would be registered against the policemen after an inquiry,” said Brijesh Kumar, additional superintendent of police of Amroha.