Appeals fail, jawan still up on tower

Aug 21, 2012 - Hansa Verma |

Age Correspondent

Even after almost 72 hours of persuasion, the 35-year-old sepoy refused to come down from the mobile phone tower on Monday. The Armyman, K. Muthu, had climbed the tower at Ajmeri Gate around 1 pm on Friday and has since refused to come down despite appeals by police and Army officials over four days.

The soldier, who is attached to the Engineers Regiment is being persuaded by the officers of his own regiment, who know him, in his native language. They have even tried to convince him by giving references about his friends and family, but Muthu remains adamant on his demand to talk to defence minister over his harassment.
“We are not taking the risk of using force to bring him down as he may take the extreme step of jumping off the 200-feet tower,” said a senior police official.
Muthu is being constantly fed with fruits from time to time even as an ambulance and a PCR vehicle are kept ready to tackle any emergency.
The 35-year-old sepoy, hailing from Tuticorin district of Tamil Nadu, alleges that he was transferred five times in five years and wants to meet the defence minister over his complaints.
On Friday, he had thrown a bunch of papers from the tower and in one of the letters, he demanded his discharge from service due to alleged harassment by seniors.

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