SAHIWAL, Oct 26: Scores of villagers on Friday swarm streets against the custodial death of an accused in a dacoity case.

The protesters blocked traffic around Farid Town police station and chanted slogans, claiming the death was caused by police torture.

Relatives of the deceased maintained police kept torturing the victim for four days consecutively.

However, police termed the incident a case of suicide. Denying any charges of thrashing the victim, they insisted the deceased was arrested on Oct 24.

Farid Town police arrested Punnun (Muhammad Ashraf) of Chak 93/6-R and his accomplice Khizar on Oct 24 on the charge of dacoity. The accused was found hanged in the lock-up the next day.

Multan range DIG suspended Farid Town police SHO Rab Nawaz Tariq, ASI Nabi Bakhsh, head constable Zafar Iqbal and constable Muhammad Rafiq on Friday.