A 40-year-old man being taken for treatment died after he was allegedly thrashed by a police patrolling team for violation of lockdown norms in Hazaribagh district of Jharkhand on Thursday evening.

The incident occurred near Basria Road under Chouparan police station.

Irate villagers of Karma blocked the road in protest against the death of Chakkan Bhuiyan who was being taken on a bike by his brother and his wife to neighbouring Koyali Kalan village.

“The police patrolling party came towards us and started asking us why we were moving about in violation of lockdown norms. Before we could explain anything they started beating Chakkan and we fled from the spot out of fear. We were taking him to Chouparan for a medical check-up,” said Chakkan’s brother Shankar.

People are prohibited from moving out after 3pm except for emergencies and medical reasons because of the lockdown-like restrictions in force in Jharkhand since April 22.

After the police left, Chakkan’s brother and wife returned to the spot and found him unconscious. When they tried to bring him back to his senses, they realised he was dead.

The irate villagers then blocked the road demanding action against the police.

The protesters lifted the blockade only after receiving an assurance from Hazaribagh superintendent of police Karthik S.

“We have ordered a magistrate-level inquiry along with the post-mortem of the deceased. We have also sent the patrolling team head Pradeep Kumar who was accused of beating the man to the police barrack. However, the police team claimed that shops in the area were kept open in violation of the lockdown norms till 8pm. When they tried to close down the shops, there was a stampede in which the 40-year-old man fell down from the bike leading to his death. We are awaiting the magistrate’s report and the post-mortem to find out the exact cause,” the SP said.

Local police, however, denied the victim was beaten up.