Peshawar, Mar 15 (IANS): A class seven student died under mysterious circumstances in police custody in Pakistan's Peshawar city, triggering a protest outside the station, the media reported on Monday.

In response, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan suspended the entire staff of the Gharbi police station, where the boy died on Sunday, and ordered a judicial inquiry into the incident, Dawn news reported.

According to a statement issued by Chief City Police Officer Abbas Ihsan's office, the student was arrested on Sunday after a heated argument with a shopkeeper and a pointing weapon at him.

The police registered an FIR against him and later he committed suicide inside the lockup, the statement added.

But refuting the suicide claim, the boy's father died in the lockup due to police torture.

On Sunday night, a large number of people and relatives of the victim staged a protest demonstration outside the Gharbi police station and chanted slogans against the police highhandedness and misuse of power.

This is the second such incident in Peshawar in recent days, Dawn news said.

A few days ago, two policemen were arrested for killing a male student after the latter did not stop on their signalling.

In 2019, four incidents of custodial deaths had occurred in police lockups.