Bhagalpur: The district police are waiting for the autopsy report of Gaina Lal Sah, 76, whose family members have alleged that he died of a heart attack triggered by South Bihar power distribution company Limited (SBPDCL) employees pressuring him to pay up what the family says was an erroneous electricity bill of Rs 29 lakh.

Bhagalpur senior superintendent of police (SSP) Manoj Kumar told The Telegraph over phone that as soon as the Madhusudanpur police station house officer (SHO) had informed him about the incident on March 7, he had instructed the SHO to approach officials in the Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College to conduct the autopsy by a medical board.

"Only after the report from the medical board can responsibility of the death of the aged person be fixed on the persons accused in the case," the SSP said.

An FIR has already been lodged with the Madhusudanpur police station under sections 306 (abetment of suicide) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC against unidentified employees of the power company on the basis of the complaint by Gaina Lal's elder son, Ramji Sah.

"Since family members and the informer in the case didn't know the power employees who went to the house of the deceased and allegedly abused him and tried to disconnect the power supply to his wheat mill, the accused are not yet identified," said a Madhusudanpur police station staff member. "Eyewitnesses, who are neighbours of the deceased, have confirmed the incident but they too failed to name the employees."

Madho, grandson of the deceased, claimed that Gania Lal had earlier been assured by the power company that the excess bill of Rs 29 lakh was generated by the previous company (Bhagalpur power distribution company private limited) and told him not to pay the surplus amount. He was also told not to worry about the excess bill and deposit current bills normally, the grandson said.

When the employees came on March 7, Gaina Lal had "repeatedly requested them with the reference of his pervious complaint letter and the assurance from the officials. But the men used filthy language and threatened to cut the power supply line to his wheat mill," Madho reiterated.

Suresh Prasad Singh, superintending engineer, SBPDCL, however, denied any such incident had happened.

"He was assured that the excess bill of the previous private power company will be rectified. He was also told to pay the current bills and he already paid Rs 2,000 in December 2017. If we had any bad intention then why was he allowed to pay the current bill in December? We could have cut the power supply to his mill. The employees went there not to demand Rs 29 lakh nor to cut the supply; they went there to intimate him to pay the dues of January and February 2018," Singh told reporters.