NEW DELHI: An Arunachal Pradesh MLA's son, studying in a college here, was allegedly thrashed by some shopkeepers in Lajpat Nagar area of south Delhi when he retaliated after they made fun of his hairstyle, which led to his death.

Nido Tanian , son of Congress MLA and parliamentary secretary in health and family welfare department, Nido Pavitra, died at his home in Green Park area on Thursday, police said.

His relatives claimed that he had an altercation with some shopkeepers on Wednesday after they made fun of his hairstyle, following which they allegedly thrashed him.

Some locals intervened and the quarrel was stopped after which Tanian came back home. However, his condition suddenly deteriorated yesterday after which he died under suspicious circumstances, his relatives claimed.

"His postmortem has been carried out in AIIMS . The cause of death would be clear only after the autopsy report. There was some altercation he had on Wednesday, we are investigating the case," a senior police official said.

A youth claiming to be his cousin told a TV channel, "This is surely about racism. Everybody in Delhi discriminates against us based on our looks. We are living in India, but we don't know whether we are actually living in India or not.. every time we are discriminated against.

"His family has been informed," he said.