The Jawali police arrested Sahil Kumar, a resident of Jarot, and Rakesh Kumar, a resident of Palanth village, on Thursday in a culpable homicide case registered after the mysterious death of two local youths Sahil Minhas and Sunil Kumar, who were suspected to have died of narcotic overdose.

As per a preliminary police investigation, Sahil Minhas and Sunil Kumar had been missing since July 7 and their families lodged missing complaints at the Jawali police station on July 8. Minhas’ body was recovered from an abandoned house at Dehri village while Sunil Kumar was found in a critical condition in a nearby forest. Kumar was rushed to the Jawali Civil Hospital, where the doctor on duty referred him to Dr Rajendra Prasad Government Medical College and Hospital at Tanda in Kangra district. However, he died at the Tanda hospital on July 11.

Minhas’ mother, in her statement to the police, suspected a foul play behind the mysterious death of her son. Additional SP, Nurpur, Dharam Chand Verma said that the Jawali police interrogated accused Sahil, who confessed that Sahil Minhas and Sunil Kumar had taken injections of heroin (chitta) in the abandoned house at Dehri village. He admitted that Sunil Kumar had brought chitta.

Verma said that the accused had left Sahil Minhas and Sunil Kumar after they had injected chitta and did not inform their families about their condition. He added that the police had recovered Sahil Minhas’ mobile phone, used syringes from the house and started an investigation.