A barber in Bihar, India was shot dead by angry villagers after he refused to give them a haircut and shave, citing lockdown restrictions.

Police said a group of villagers reached the home of barber Dinesh Thakur, 40, in Banka district last Saturday and sought his services. However, he refused, citing lockdown restrictions and the ever-increasing number of coronavirus infections.

Angry villagers then forcibly took the barber with them outside the village and assaulted him badly before pumping two bullets into his head. He died on the spot.

His mutilated body was found abandoned near a pond at a neighbouring village in the same district.

“Some villagers had reached our home on Saturday evening and put pressures on him (the victim) to cut their hair, but he politely refused, citing lockdown rules and issues of social-distancing. I never imagined he would be killed this way over a petty issue,” the victim’s wife Muso Devi told the police.

Police have arrested three persons based on a complaint filed by the victim’s wife. She has registered a case against a total of nine villagers.

“The victim was shot in the head. We have recovered two empty bullets from the spot and further investigation is on,” local police station in-charge Kumar Sunny said over the phone on Monday.

Total Covid-19 cases in India have crossed the 46,000-mark, as per the latest update by the Union health ministry. Over 1,500 people have died due to the virus across the country. The lockdown in India has been extended till May 17.