‘Chitta’ claims 2 lives in four days in Bathinda; 10 held 

In a span of just four days, Bathinda has reported two suspected deaths due to the overdose of “chitta”, triggering fresh concerns over the increasing drug menace.

The victims include a 19-year-old youth and a 35-year-old man, while the police have arrested a total of 10 persons in connection with the two cases.

In the first case, Gurjit Singh, a resident of Udham Singh Nagar, reported that his teenage son Harwinder Singh died due to the overdose of “chitta” administered to him by his friends at a hotel room on Dabwali Road on June 18.

Following the complaint, the Canal Colony police registered a case under Section 105 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) against seven persons — Ankush Kumar, Akash Kumar, Nikhil Kumar, Vishal Kumar, Vikas Kumar, Onkar Singh, Sonu, and Sukhmangaljit Singh.

Seven of the total eight accused have since been arrested.

In another incident, Jaswant Singh, a resident of the Bir Talab area, told the police that his 35-year-old son, a drug addict, died on June 21 after allegedly injecting “chitta”. He named Sadhu Singh, Kirna Kaur, Prem Kaur, Arti, and Kulwinder Kaur as the suppliers who used to sell the contraband to his son.

Acting on the complaint, the Bathinda sadar police registered a case under Section 105 of the BNS and arrested three of the accused, namely Prem Kaur, Aarti, and Kulwinder Kaur.

Both cases are being probed, and police officials said they had intensified their efforts to break the supply chain of synthetic drugs in the district.

BOX: 3 houses demolished

The district police on Sunday demolished the residences of three alleged drug peddlers – Manjit Kaur, Jaswinder Kaur and Rani Kaur – at Dhobiana Basti and Bhagta Bhai Ka village here. Cops claimed that 986 drug peddlers had been arrested in 634 cases registered under the NDPS Act since March 1 this year in the district.

151 drug peddlers held

Chandigarh: The Punjab Police on Sunday arrested 151 drug smugglers and seized 533 gm of heroin, 2.8 kg of opium and Rs 5.32 lakh in drug money.

With this, the number of total drug smugglers arrested under the state government’s campaign, “Yudh Nashian Virudh”, has reached to 18,719 in 113 days.