The Uttarakhand Police arrested two men in Pithoragarh district on Monday after they allegedly exchanged messages on a WhatsApp group in which they spoke of killing Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, PTI reported.

The minister had visited Dharchula town in the district earlier in the day to inaugurate a medical camp organised by the Army on the occasion of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthday.

“We were alerted to the chat on a WhatsApp group at 9.30 pm on Sunday,” said Superintendent of Police Ramchandra Rajguru. “We identified two persons between whom the chat was taking place and arrested them Monday morning ahead of the defence minister’s arrival here.”

Though the matter is still being investigated, prima facie it appears that the two men were inebriated when they wrote the messages, Rajguru said. The police are looking into their background and checking if they possessed any arms and ammunition, he added. The background of the WhatsApp group administrator is also being looked into.

The two have been booked under criminal intimidation charges and for violating the Information Technology Act.