Palghar: A mentally-challenged man allegedly bit-off the ear of a farmer and later died at a district hospital, police said on Sunday.
The unidentified man, aged around 40, entered the farm of Chandrakant Laxman Gorekar at Varkundi village in Palghar on Saturday at around 8 AM.
When Gorekar inquired as to what he wanted, the man allegedly pushed the farmer down to the ground and started biting his left ear, Palghar police station inspector Nilesh Mainkar said.
The farmer tried to rescue himself, but in vain. The man bit Gorekar's ear to the extent that the external part got detached from his face, police said.
The farmer then raised an alarm, hearing which locals rescued him from the clutches of the man. The villagers then caught hold of the man, who was uncontrollable, and took him to Palghar rural hospital where he died, police said.
The police inspector said the postmortem of the man was conducted and the doctors opined that the death was natural and there was no foul play.
A case of accidental death was registered and further probe was on, he said.
Meanwhile, the farmer who sustained deep ear injury was also rushed to hospital and was under treatment, police added.
