Patna: A 20-year-old youth climbed a mobile phone tower at Ramnagar village under Gaighat police station area in Muzaffarpur district on Thursday morning, alleging that he was assaulted and threatened with a false case at the police station when he sought the release of his recovered phone. The incident triggered a tense five-hour standoff as police, family members and local residents tried to persuade him to come down.The youth, identified as Ankit Raj Chaudhary, climbed the tower around 4 am. Before doing so, he uploaded a video on social media accusing police personnel of assaulting him.According to Ankit, his phone had been stolen about one-and-a-half months ago and was later recovered by police. After obtaining a court order for the release of the phone, he visited Gaighat police station on Wednesday to claim it. Ankit alleged that woman sub-inspector, Pooja Sharma, refused to hand on the phone. When he insisted, he was allegedly assaulted and threatened with being implicated in a false case and sent to jail.Following the alleged incident, Ankit climbed the mobile tower in protest. Despite intermittent rain, he remained on the tower for several hours, demanding an apology from the officer concerned.Gaighat SHO Jaiprakash Gupta reached the spot and held talks with him. Around 9:30 am, Ankit agreed to come down after the SHO assured him that the allegations would be investigated and appropriate action taken. “The allegations levelled against SI Pooja Sharma will be examined seriously. CCTV footage from the police station will be reviewed to ascertain what transpired when Ankit visited the station,” Gupta said.However, the SI denied the allegations, calling them baseless. She said Ankit had been asked to wait for some time for processing of the court order but became agitated and created a commotion at the police station before leaving.
