A patient from Hazaribagh died at RIMS on Tuesday after a hospital worker removed his oxygen mask upon being denied a bribe, the patient’s family has alleged.

While the local police station has said that no complaint had been registered by the family, authorities at RIMS have also denied any knowledge of the incident, first reported by some sections of the vernacular media.

The alleged incident occurred Tuesday afternoon after the patient, Santosh Thakur, was brought to RIMS wearing an oxygen mask. According to newspaper reports, Santosh suffered a fall at his residence in Hazaribagh on July 12.

He was admitted to a hospital in Dhanbad on July 19. The Dhanbad hospital referred him to RIMS, apparently for better treatment.

Reports suggested that after Santosh’s family brought him to RIMS in an ambulance, a man operating a stretcher-trolley, D.K. Pandey, demanded Rs 2,000 from Santosh’s relatives to wheel him to the emergency ward from the portico. When Santosh’s relatives refused to pay, Pandey, it is alleged, yanked off the oxygen mask before taking him to a doctor. Santosh was then declared brought dead.

Officer-in-charge of Bariatu police station Sanjeev Kumar said that no report or complaint had been lodged.

“We have heard about such an incident. But no complaint has been registered in this regard at the police station,” OC Kumar said, adding that it was difficult to comment further without any FIR.

He also denied that Pandey had been handed over to the police. RIMS director Dr D.K. Singh also expressed his inability to comment on the matter.

“Police officers deputed at RIMS have not informed me about any such incident. Relatives of the patient have not reported the matter to us. Hence, it is very difficult to comment on the matter,” Dr Singh said.