CHENNAI: A 56-year-old man collapsed to death while wrangling with the police who came to his house in Abhiramapuram on Tuesday evening to issue summons in a cheating case against him. The deceased's family members allege rough handling by the police as the reason behind the man's death.

The Thazhambur Police (Tambaram Commissionerate) had booked G Karthikeyan last year under multiple sections, including cheating, criminal intimidation, and theft, based on a complaint by Anadhi of Madipakkam.

According to Anandhi's complaint, Karthikeyan took illegal possession of her RO water plant by forging documents in 2024, police sources said.

Anandhi had purchased the plant and land from Karthikeyan in 2011. After the business's success, he allegedly stole the machine, causing a loss to the firm and forged documents to register the machines in his wife's name.

As he failed to appear thrice after receiving the summons, a police team went to Karthikeyan's house on Tuesday and allegedly forcibly removed him from there when he collapsed. His family rushed him to a hospital, where he was declared as brought dead.

The Chennai police have recovered his body and sent it for postmortem to determine the cause of death.