Man perches on electricity tower for six hours

RAIPUR - An unemployed man created a flutter Saturday as he climbed a 130-metre-high electricity tower on the outskirts of Raipur after a family tiff, police said. It took officials six hours to coax him to come down.

Lal Singh, 30, who belonged to Mandla district of Madhya Pradesh, climbed up the tower at village Chikhli, some 20 km from here. A few villagers spotted him and informed the local police station, who in turn, alerted the Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (PGCIL) officials.

Police, along with the villagers and PGCIL officials, requested the man for six hours to come down before he agreed.

“About 500 people assembled near the tower under scorching heat thinking he would be electrocuted. Lal Singh, when he came down, said he was unemployed for a long time and had climbed up the tower after having a tiff with his brother,” officials at the police headquarters said.