Badaun (Uttar Pradesh), Jan 26 (IANS): A 44-year-old man allegedly consumed poison and died when the police raided his house here.

The man, Dinesh Sharma, feared that the police would implicate him in another case and put him behind the bars.

The police said that Dinesh Sharma was a history-sheeter facing 16 criminal cases in various police stations across the district.

However, in the last eight years, he had not been booked for any criminal activity in the region. The last case against Sharma was filed in 2012 at the Bisauli police station.

A resident of the Chatuiya village of Badaun, Sharma had come out on bail a few months ago but each time there was a robbery or any other crime in the region, police would pick him up for questioning.

According to reports, late on Sunday night, when Sharma and his wife were fast asleep, a police team comprising two sub-inspectors and four constables raided the house without any warrant.

They barged into the home to take Sharma to the police station in connection with a recent robbery.

"My husband was trying to lead a peaceful life. He was always worried that police would implicate him in a false case and put him in jail. We got married last year and everything was fine till December last year when my husband went to Delhi for work. In between there was a robbery and police started looking for him. They raided our house several times and misbehaved with us. On Sunday, my husband returned home and we were sleeping when a police team raided our house. They barged into the house. My husband, meanwhile, consumed poison," said Geeta Sharma, the wife.

Sharma was rushed to a hospital where he died.

Police, on their part, said they just wanted to question him in connection with a loot case in which he was a suspect.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) of Badaun, Sankalp Sharma, said, "Our investigation team had a tip-off that Dinesh Sharma was involved in a robbery case. He was absconding from his village for the last few days. When we came to know that he had returned home, a team was sent to his house to bring him for questioning. But he consumed poison.

We took him to hospital but he could not survive. We never intended to falsely implicate him in any case. He was a history-sheeter and had been involved in many crimes in the past."