However, the district administration officials denied that the cause of death was starvation,
and claimed that Birhor died due to illness.
A month ago, Rakha Birhor(18), too, had to cough up two hens and three
Hariya bottles for stealing goods from a villager.
Birhor's wife, Shanti Devi(35),
said her husband was suffering from jaundice and her family did not have money to buy food and medicines prescribed by doctors.