High drama as man climbs tower, threatens to end life

A 42-year-old debt-ridden man climbed a high mast tower of a telecom company in Civil Lines area in Nagpur and threatened to commit suicide, police said on Sunday.

The drama continued at the Aakashwani Square near Gondwana Lanes for about three-and-a-half hours on Saturday night, sending the city police, fire and emergency services machinery into a tizzy. Vehicular traffic came to a halt as several passerby gathered at the otherwise busy square.

The man, identified as Manoj, later came down after Nagpur Commissioner of Police Bhushan Kumar Upadhyay assured to help resolve his grievances.

The man climbed the nearly 24-metre-tall tower around 9.30 pm. When rescuers tried to approach him using a turntable ladder, he put a rope around his neck and inflicted injuries on his face and hands with a blade, threatening to end his life, a police official said.

Fire brigade personnel then laid a safety net around the tower and police personnel urged him not to take the extreme step, assuring that his demands would be looked into.

As he refused to come down, Assistant Commissioner of Police (Welfare) Vilas Sonawane boarded the turntable ladder along with fireman Anil Balpande around 10.30 pm to reach the man and convince him.

The man, however, told Sonawane that he would only speak to Nagpur Police Commissioner Upadhyay.

Sonawane then made the man speak to the police commissioner on his mobile phone.

The man, who has two children, told Upadhyay that he was facing financial crunch due to the coronavirus-induced restrictions and some persons, from whom he had borrowed money, were threatening him, the official said.

After Upadhyay assured to help resolve his grievances, the man came down with the help of the ladder along with Sonawane and Balpande. He was then rushed to a hospital for treatment of injuries that he had inflicted upon himself, the official said.