A 24-year-old man from Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh who appeared on a reality show featuring Rakhi Sawant was so upset by the reportedly "indecent remarks" made against him by the Bollywood item girl that he stopped eating and died, his family alleged Thursday.

Laksham Prasad, a resident of Jhansi's Prem Nagar town, was upset after Rakhi termed him "impotent" on her reality show 'Rakhi Ka Insaaf'. He died on Wednesday, his family alleged Thursday.

According to Prasad's mother Savitri Ahirwal, Sawant had termed her son "impotent" while trying to settle the dispute between him and his wife on the reality show.

"My son was so upset with the indecent remarks that he stopped meeting any outsiders or neighbours, who used to laugh at him referring to the remarks by Rakhi Sawant...They (neighbours) had seen the show and how that girl (Sawant) referred to my son as 'namard and napunsak' (impotent),'' Ahirwal told reporters Thursday, a day after Prasad died.

"Upset over the remarks, my son went into acute depression and even stopped eating food... He gradually became weak and frail and ultimately died yesterday... No one other than Rakhi Sawant is responsible for the untimely death of my son,'' she added.

According to the family members, in October Prasad along with his wife Vineeta and her family had appeared on 'Rakhi Ka Insaaf', in which Sawant plays the role of a judge and announces verdicts in cases of domestic violence, marital discord and others.

"Our main objective was to settle the dispute between Lakhsham and his wife Vineeta. We would have never opted for the show if we knew that the girl (Sawant) would ill-treat Laksham in such a manner on national television,'' said Balbir Ahirwal, Prasad's maternal uncle.

Prasad and Vineeta were married in February 2010. A month after the marriage, they started living separately following a marital discord.

Prasad's family members said they would register a case against Rakhi Sawant with the police.

"We will not spare Rakhi Sawant...She will have to pay the price for the death of my nephew. No one has the right to abuse anyone... We will also try to submit the video footage of the programme in which Rakhi Sawant can be seen abusing Lakshman,'' said Ahirwal.

When contacted, police inspector A.K. Singh told IANS, "As of now we have not received any complaint against Rakhi Sawant, but we will surely take necessary action if the family members of the deceased approach us.''