Missing Jalandhar youth died of drug overdose, 2 held

Accused told police that the victim died after they injected him with a ‘chitta’ overdose; later, they threw the body into Kali Bein in Kapurthala

VICTIM’S DECOMPOSED BODY WAS FISHED OUT FROM THE RIVULET IN MALSIAN LOCALITY ON AUGUST 12 AND LATER CREMATED AS AN UNIDENTIFIED BODY BY THE LOCAL POLICE AS NO ONE CAME TO CLAIM IT

JALANDHAR: A 25-year-old man of Dhada Haripur village, 48km from the district headquarters, who went missing on August 6, had died of ‘chitta’ overdose, claims police.

They said that he was overdosed by three friends who then dumped his body into the Kali Bein in Kapurthala, on August 6. The deceased was Harpreet Singh.

Harpreet’s family had lodged a missing complaint on August 6 with the Nakodar Sadar police station. Following this, the cops initiated a probe and started interrogation of his friends.

The accused are Kamaljeet Singh and Harjinder Singh of Khanpur Dhada village in Jalan- dhar, and Santokh Singh Sukha of Latiwal village of Kapurthala. All three are in their twenties.

They have been booked under Sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) 201 (disappearance of evidence) and 34 (Acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) on Saturday, following the statement of victim’s father Santokh Singh, 58, who is a labourer.

Nakodar deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Mukesh Kumar saidvictim Harpreet and Kamaljeet were working as plumbers andwere drugaddicts.

“The investigation revealed that Kamaljeet was seen accompanying the victim on August 6 to Latiwal village. When taken into custody on the basis of mobile records, he confessed that Harpreet died when they injected him an overdose of ‘chitta’ at Santokh’s house,” the DSP said.

Following this, Kamaljit and Harjinder threw the body in Bein. Kamaljit came back to the village and behaved normally and even accompanied the family to trace Harpreet, added DSP.

“We had clicked pictures of the body that was recovered from Bein on August 12 and showed it to the accused who identified the victim and the family was informed,” said the DSP.

Deceased’s decomposed body was fished out from the Bein in Malsian locality on August 12, and later cremated as an unidentified body by the local police after three-days, when no one came to claim it.

“We had issued advertisements in the papers about the unidentified body, but no one came forward,” said the DSP.

Meanwhile, Kamaljit and Harjinder have been arrested while Sukha is still absconding.