Upset over not being able to marry lover, drunk man climbs atop telecom tower in K'taka

Bengaluru: In a scene straight out of a film, a 26-year-old drunk man climbed atop a telecom tower in Vijayapura in Karnataka, and refused to climb down due to a family dispute over marriage and property.

His family, said police sources, were not allowing him to marry his lover, saying he would not inherit anything if insists on marrying her.

The incident, which occurred at around 6.30 pm on June 18, had onlookers wringing their hands, worried he might jump.

An official from Vijayapura Superintendent of Police office said finally the police had to go and escort him down.

“He is identified as Srisaila Nagappa Ramatirtha, a resident of Kotyala in Vijayapura. The tower is situated in Tikota town. We gave him a dressing-down and let him off after a medical checkup,” said the official.

A police official from Ullagaddi Police Station, under whose jurisdiction Tikota town falls, who had gone to the spot last evening to bring him down, said the man stayed up for nearly 30 minutes, resulting in panic among onlookers. As he also looked visibly shaken, they took him to a nearby hospital for treatment, said the police official.