The family of a man who died in criminal detention are seeking compensation from police in east China's Jiangxi Province, after claiming the man was beaten to death.

Police said Chen Xujin, 45, who was detained for theft, died from a heart-related illness in hospital at 6:05 a.m. on Feb. 16.

Chen Xiaoming, Chen's brother, said Friday that the family was seeking 200,000 yuan (about 29,000 U.S. dollars) from the police in compensation and maintained they did not believe the cause of death given in the police report.

Yan Huangseng, deputy director of Xiushui County Public Security Bureau, said Wednesday Chen was beaten by another inmate surnamed Chen on Feb. 16 at around 4 a.m., and was found by police unconscious in the toilet at 5 a.m.. He was taken to hospital immediately and died an hour later.

Yan refused to give the full name of the other inmate or provide any information out of "privacy concerns."

An autopsy report released by the People's Procuratorate of Jiangxi Province and Jiangxi Provincial Public Security Department on March 4 said Chen "died of heart and lung failure."

The report also said Chen had "bruises and injuries all over his body", but stated his death was not caused by those injuries.

Chen's family maintain Chen was beaten to death.

"He was as strong as a buffalo," said Chen Xiaoming.

Chen Xiaoming said his brother's clothes were all wet on Feb. 16 and police told them the clothes had been washed because Chen lost control of his bowels that day.

"Why would he have excrement on the upper body if he lost control of his bowels?" said Chen.

The Beijing Times reported Wednesday that the doctor who made the diagnosis of a miocardial infarction claimed he had been pressured by the police.

"Chen had no pulse or heartbeat when he reached the hospital, making it impossible to make a judgement without a thorough examination. Police urged me to write a diagnosis, so I wrote whatever it might be," the Beijing Times quoted Doctor Zhu Chaoyang as saying.

But Yan told Xinhua that what Zhu said could not be believed.

"Only qualified forensic doctors can make that judgement. Whatever Zhu said makes no sense," he said.