MANSEHRA, Jan 17: A British national, who was arrested for allegedly torching a rest house, died in the custody of police here on Monday, officials said.

Jan Gregory, seemed to be in his late 70s, was arrested on January 4 when he allegedly set ablaze a room of a rest house, Dewan-i-Khas, in Abbottabad.

He was admitted to King Abdullah Teaching Hospital for cardiac pulmonary arrest. Doctors said that he died of the same ailment at the hospital.

Zafar Iqbal, the superintendent of Mansehra jail, said that Gregory was sent to jail on January 5 in the case under section 436 of PPC.

He said that sessions judge also visited the hospital and issued death certificate of Gregory. He said that the British national remained in the jail hardly for four to five days he was taken to different hospitals in Islamabad, Abbottabad and Mansehra owing to his disease.

Mr Iqbal said that the body was sent to UK Embassy in Islamabad on its demanded.

District and Sessions Judge Mohammad Arshid Khan has ordered senior civil judge Mohsan Ali Turk to conduct a judicial inquiry into the death of the British national.

Meanwhile, two brothers died of suffocation in Mahandry area of Kaghan valley on Monday.

Wazir Shah and his brother Umer Badshah of Upper Dir were living in the area for the last few months to reconstruct a primary school.

“They lit coal in the room due to severe cold in the night. They died of suffocation when the room was filled with gas,” residents of the area said.

The bodies were taken to King Abdullah Teaching Hospital for autopsy and later handed over to their relatives.