Two suspects were arrested by police on Tuesday in connection with the suicide earlier this month of a teenage boy from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Battagram district.

District Police Officer Abdul Rauf Baber Qaiserani told Dawn that the 15-year-old boy had been an orphan and a resident of Battagram's Shingli Bala area. He committed suicide on March 14, which was confirmed by the hospital after an autopsy.

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Police had subsequently initiated an inquiry under Section 174 (Investigation over unnatural death) of the Criminal Procedures Code. The investigation revealed that two suspects had allegedly raped the boy six months ago and filmed the assault. Afterwards, they blackmailed the boy to "carry on the relationship" or risk having the video released.

Police believe that it was under this pressure that the boy decided to take his life.

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Police claimed that they had arrested the two suspects, recovered the objectionable video and pictures of the deceased victim and the mobile phone used for blackmail.

DPO Qaiserani said that during the course of the investigation, one of the suspects had confessed to the rape and blackmail before the judicial magistrate in a statement recorded under Sections 164 and 364 of the Criminal Procedures Code.