Four men allegedly thrashed a 33-year-old Dalit in Ghoshgarh village in the Bilaspur area so severely over Rs 3,000 that he died the next day, police said on Thursday.
The accused beat the victim with sticks on Tuesday night and left him outside his house. He died Wednesday night during treatment.
According to the police, the victim, Inder Kumar ran a grocery shop from his house in Ghoshgarh.
Around four days ago, one Sagar Yadav, a man from his village, had lent him Rs 19,000 to pay the electricity bill.
Police said that Inder spent Rs 3,000 out of Rs 19,000 and failed to the pay the bill.
According to the complaint filed by Deepchand, the father of the victim, on Monday, Sagar came to their home and took the remaining Rs 16,000 and gave Inder an ultimatum to return the rest as soon as possible.
"On Tuesday evening, Sagar called my son near the village temple. At around 7.30 pm Sagar called me on phone and said that Inder has promised to return the money by tomorrow, and if he does not give it by then, I will have to give him the money," Deepchand, according to the police, said in his complaint.
"I agreed, but an hour later, Sagar and three others with him, left my son outside my house moaning in pain. My son told me that Sagar, Azad, Mukesh, and Hitesh of the village beat him with sticks.
"We took him to a hospital in Pataudi for treatment from where he was referred to civil hospital, Gurugram, where he succumbed late Wednesday night," he added.
Following the complaint, an FIR was registered Thursday morning against Sagar, Azad, Mukesh, and Hitesh under sections 302 (murder) of the ICP and SC/ST Act at Bilaspur Police Station.
"We handed over the body to kin after the post-mortem. The accused are absconding but our team is conducting raids to nab them and they will be arrested soon," said Inspector Rahul Dev, SHO, Bilaspur Police Station.
