Dehradun, Jul 13 (IANS) Five Uttarakhand cops were placed under suspension following the alleged suicide by a youth inside the lock-up at a police chowki in Uttarakhand's Udham Singh Nagar district, a top police officer said on Friday.

Director General of Police (law and order) Ashok Kumar said that all the five cops, including the SIDCUL-Pantnagar chowki in-charge, were suspended as prima facie it appeared that there was dereliction of duty.

The youth, who was allegedly involved in a theft case, was taken into custody on Thursday. Within few hours, the youth allegedly committed suicide.

However, the family members of the deceased alleged that he was severely beaten up inside the lock-up which led to his death. The family members along with the locals also held protest demonstrations outside the chowki.

A postmortem is being conducted to ascertain the exact cause of death.

"We have ordered an inquiry into the entire incident," Kumar said.