CHENNAI: When a 19-year-old youth climbed a high-tension electricity transmission tower in the Tambaram Sanatorium area on Friday, demanding that he be married to his girlfriend, it marked the beginning of a two-hour-long drama. It ended with the girl, a 15-year-old Class XI student, being brought to the spot and agreeing to his demand. After he climbed down, police booked Kishore and a court sent him to jail.
Earlier, people had gathered in large numbers on the road and on their terraces to ensure they would not miss what was about to unfold. Power supply to the whole area had to be snapped to prevent electrocution of the youth perched 80ft above the ground. Power was disrupted for more than two hours in Tambaram, Pallavaram, Chromepet and Irumbuliyur areas, affecting suburban train services on the Tambaram-Chennai Beach route.
Police said Kishore, a resident of Meenakshi Amman Street in Chromepet, is a house painter and was in a relationship with the Class XI student. Recently, police said, he had asked her to marry him, but she refused. When his repeated efforts to persuade her were in vain, Kishore climbed the power transmission tower at Durga Nagar in Tambaram Sanatorium around 8am on Friday. He kept shouting out her name and warned people against coming near him, saying he would jump down and end his life. His mother’s frantic cries and the pleas of his friends failed to move him.
