A 270-ft BSNL tower became the centre of an eight-hour rescue operation in Siliguri on Wednesday night after a youth climbed to the top . Police used a drone to communicate with him and was finally brought him down around 11.30pm
Siliguri : ‘Posto diye kumro bhaja chai’ — a request for pumpkin fried with poppy seeds delivered from the top of a 270-ft BSNL tower — set off an eight-hour rescue operation in Siliguri on Wednesday night, ending just before midnight when mountaineers finally brought the youth safely to the ground.
ACP (East) Rana Mukherjee said police were working to establish his identity and determine how he entered the stadium and gained access to the ageing tower without being intercepted — a lapse that has raised questions about security at both the premises and the telecommunications structure. The youth was first spotted around 4pm atop the mobile tower at Kanchanjunga Stadium, dressed in a red-and-saffron outfit and showing no inclination to descend. Police, fire services, civil defence and disaster management teams rushed to the spot as crowds gathered below. The sheer height made communication from the ground impossible, prompting the Siliguri Police Commissionerate to deploy a drone. The exchange it enabled was unusual. The youth requested ‘posto diye kumro bhaja’ — pumpkin fried with poppy seeds. At another point, he demanded a helicopter ride.