On Sunday, officials on duty at the Thane Central Jail might well have been catching a double matinee show of a sensational blockbuster film, what with the Sholay-like histrionics of a prisoner.
In the afternoon, 31-year-old Prateek Shivpuje, a jail inmate, climbed up the wall of the facility and, for six long and frenzied hours, threatened to commit suicide if his wishes were not complied with.u00a0
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Su-ciiiiide: Prateek Shivpuje
“Around 1 pm on Sunday, when all the inmates were brought out to the ground after lunch, Shivpuje clambered up on top of one of the walls of the jail with the help of a drainage pipe,” said a police official from the jail on the condition of anonymity.
After he scaled the pipe, he started threatening that he would plunge off if all his demands – including that he should be shifted to the Taloja jail where his other friends are lodged – were not met.
The prison authorities -- uncertain how gravely to take his caveat -- informed the fire brigade and the local police station to be on the safer side. But until then something needed to be done to pacify the prisoner and keep him safe in his perch.
Enter negotiator
That is when a female police inspector, Kavita Gaikwad, engaged Shivpuje in a genial conversation and kept his mind diverted till the time the fire brigade officials arrived, climbed up and rescued the theatrical prisoner.
“It took six hours to get him down. We had put cushions on the ground in case Shivpuje carried out his threat of jumping off,” said a fire brigade official.
Shivpuje, arrested by the Rabale police for robbery last year and deposited in Thane jail, also protested from the top of the wall that he was not taken to court regularly.u00a0
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