A 50-year-old farmer in Uttar Pradesh hanged himself allegedly after he was handed an inflated electricity bill of Rs 1.5 lakh and slapped by officials when he said he did not have the money to pay it.

In protest, people placed Ramji Lal’s body in front of the local electricity department office and refused to proceed with the last rites until a case is filed against the sub-divisional officer and junior engineer, who had allegedly had gone to the farmer’s house and slapped him in front of his family members.

Police assured the protesters that action would be taken after necessary procedures.

The victim’s nephew, Ramcharan, and other family members lodged a police complaint that the amount of Rs 1,500 had erroneously been shown as Rs 1.5 lakh in the bill.

The incident took place at Sunaira village in Aligarh.