Fifteen days ago, Insaaf Ali began walking from Mumbai to reach his home in Shravasti district in Uttar Pradesh.

A labourer in Mumbai’s Vasai, Ali struggled for food and water on the way but continued to walk almost 1,500 kilometres.

He reached the outskirts of his village on Monday and was immediately taken to a quarantine centre in Matkhanwa under Malhipur police station of the district.

He died a few hours later, reportedly of dehydration and exhaustion.

Superintendent of Police, Shravasti, Anoop Kumar Singh said that Ali reached Matkhanwa around 7 a.m. and was quarantined after basic tests at a local school.

“He was also served a proper breakfast after which he took rest. But, after five hours, he began complaining of pain in the upper part of the stomach and also vomited thrice,” said Singh.

Before the doctors were called in, Ali collapsed.

Chief Medical Officer A.P. Bhargava, said that they had taken the samples and sent them to Dr Ram Manohar Lohia hospital in Lucknow for conducting a test of coronavirus.

The CMO said, “Only after the report comes out, we will conduct a post-mortem to ascertain the exact cause of Ali’s death.”

However, he said, during preliminary checkup done by a team of doctors, no signs or symptoms of coronavirus were traced.

Agyaram, the village head of Matkhanwa, however, said that Ali had reached Shravasti on April 24 and stayed at his in-laws’ house, about 10 km away.

“On Monday, he set out for his house in Matkhanwa village, he was unwell,” he said.

Ali is survived by his wife Salma Begum and their 6-year-old son.