KAPURTHALA: Within two days of a Sultanpur Lodhi-based family losing their fifth son to drugs, two drug addicts, both 30-31 years old, died in village Raipur Arayian, under Nadala police station of district Kapurthala, on Thursday. According to the villagers, both were 30-31 years old and both earlier underwent treatment at de-addiction centres.Villagers cremated Balbir Singh Billa in the afternoon and, in a couple of hours, the other youth, Shali, also died.Panchayat member Darshan Singh, in whose neighbourhood Billa lived, said that the latter was working as a labourer and was an addict. “He was living alone. His parents died earlier and his wife left him due to his addiction. His sister got him treated at least twice at a de-addiction centre but he relapsed,” he said.He was working with a mason, Sunny, from the same village. “I came to his house to take him along around 8 am. The gate was locked from inside and he did not respond to calls and the knocking. I went inside by scaling the boundary wall and was not in his room. Then I found him lying in the kitchen with a syringe lying nearby. It appeared that he died quite a few hours back,” said Sunny.The villagers cremated him in the afternoon. Village sarpanch Varinder Kumar Prahsar told TOI that he was returning from Billa’s cremation when he saw that Shali appeared in a bad shape while riding pillion on a bike and was being taken to his home. “I called up his uncle saying that he did not appear well and should be taken to a hospital. Later I got the news that he also died,” said Prashar.Former village sarpanch Stephen, a relative of Shally, said that the family rushed him to a hospital but he was declared brought dead. “He was working in Mumbai with his uncle, who was operating as a labour contractor, and returned home around 20 days back. He was earlier treated for de-addiction and he gave up the drugs. We don’t know when and how he again fell prey to the menace,” he said.Panchayat member Harvinder Singh Bajwa said that the situation in the village was bad due to the drugs.Bholath DSP Karnail Singh said that Shali’s parents said that he died due to nasha (drugs). “His father said that four youths from the same village took him from his home around 11.30 am. When he returned home, he appeared badly under the influence of a drug. When they questioned him, he said that his friends gave him nasha (drugs). He was rushed to a hospital but he was declared dead,” said the DSP.He said that the four youths, named by his father, were booked for culpable homicide not amounting to murder and the main accused, Sawan, was arrested.Kapurthala SSP Gaurav Toora said that Billa’s family did not have any apprehension about anyone regarding his death and they cremated the body. He urged people to give information about the drug peddlers in their area.
