A man reportedly mentally unstable had climbed up a high tension electric pole and threatened to jump off, sending the Delhi police and other civic agencies into a tizzy on Wednesday.
He was later rescued when the police managed to convince him to climb down from the pole after which he was briefly detained.
The man has been identified as Rampreet (40), a vagabond who resides at a JJ cluster in Kapoori Thakur Camp, Srinivas Puri.
Following the incident, he was sent to AIIMS hospital for medical examination. The man's antics had also attracted the attention of the commuters who stopped their vehicles midway. This resulted in a traffic jam around Ashram Chowk.
According to Deputy Commissioner of Police (South-East), Romil Baaniya, a PCR call was received at Lajpat Nagar police station around 8:17 am.
"The caller said that a mentally unstable man had climbed atop an electric pole. Looking at the seriousness of the case a local team from Lajpat Nagar police station was dispatched," said Baaniya.
When the police team reached the spot, they found the man atop the high tension electric pole waving his hands. Taking stock of the situation, the police immediately roped in other civic agencies like BSES, CAT ambulance and several firefighters from DFS.
Immediately, the BSES officials severed the electricity connection and tried to convince the man to come down.
"We had tried to talk to the man and he refused to climb down. We could not take the risk of climbing up the pole. But the man eventually decided to climb down after which we immediately detained him before he caused any more damage," said a police officer.
When the police took him to AIIMS, the preliminary examination ascertained that he was mentally unsound. He is currently is undergoing treatment at the same.