Police in India are launching an investigation into the death of a woman after she suffered fatal burns injuries following an altercation with police in the state of Uttar Pradesh.

Two policemen have been suspended after Neetu Dwivedi, 40, claimed she was ordered to pay a bribe. When she refused, she claimed the officers poured petrol over her body and set her alight.

The woman had visited Kothi police station in the villlage of Barabanki, Uttar Pradesh, after her husband was questioned over a recent shooting.

An investigation into the woman's death has been launched and will be headed up by senior police official Abdul Hameed (right)

She had come to collect her husband Ram Narain from the police station when she alleges that the officers demanded 100,000 rupees ($1,578) for his immediate release.

Before she died, the 40-year-old woman told reporters and magistrate Yogeshwar Ram Mishra in hospital that the station house officer Rai Saheb Yadav and constable Akhilesh Rai had been abusive and humiliated her after she refused to pay the bribe.

Both police officers deny the dying woman's allegations. The two men claim that the woman deliberately set fire to herself in a frustrated act of self-immolation.

According to NDTV, the woman told a magistrate and several reporters before she died: 'No one helped me...They all watched.'

According to the dying woman's testimony, she allegedly said that the police officers humiliated her and set her on fire using petrol

'These people used to harass me often. They did it four times. The fifth time, they poured petrol over me and did this,'

Her husband, Ram Narain, told a different story: 'The police took me away and said a murder case had been lodged against me. They told my wife to get money and pick me up.

'I don't know how much they wanted. I was sitting outside when she ran out, engulfed in fire.

'I and some others tried to save her. These people must have set her on fire. Who else could have done it?'

Acccording to the BBC, Mrs Dwivedi was rushed to Lucknow hospital's Trauma Centre, suffering from 80% severe burns to her body. She died at 4am this morning.

The woman's horrific death comes less than a month after Indian journalist Jagender Singh died from severe burns in Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh.

Mr Singh ran a popular facebook page, regularly publishing stories about alleged corruption and malpractice. The journalist's stories led to him suffering harassment from the police, his son claims.

In his dying statement, Jagender Singh claimed that four police officers raided his house and set fire to him. Singh accused state minister, Ram Murti Singh Verma, of setting him alight.

A murder investigation was launched and Verma and the four officers were charged with murder.