A 24-year-old Japanese national, in nothing but a pair of shorts, climbed up a 30 foot neem tree on Christopher Road in Topsia on the intervening nights of 1st and 2nd August, 2016 and perched precariously on one of the highest branches for close to nine hours defying desperate attempts by cops, fire brigade and disaster management group personnel to bring him down.
Every time rescuers propped up a ladder and tried to climb up, he would give the ladder a violent shake from his vantage point or throw down branches, dislodging them. He kept asking for a Japanese policeman and was finally rescued after firemen spread a safe ty net around the tree and two of them climbed up to get him.The youth jumped off, hit the net and rolled into an adjacent pond and tried to swim away, but three rescuers jumped in to nab him. He was first taken to a government hospital and later handed over to the Japanese Consulate.
Police identified the youth as Takeru Arima, a resident of Kawaguchi, Saitama, in Japan. He had been touring India with a friend for the past month. He claimed he had lost his passport and other papers and was told by someone that Indian police would arrest him and he would never be allowed to return home. The cops, however, found his passport and other documents from his room at the guest house in Sudder Street where he had checked in along with friend Saita Eiji on July 25.
"Someone had told him that since he had lost his passport, he would never be allowed to go home and would soon be arrested. So he climbed up the tree and wanted to draw the attention of the administration," said a senior officer of Topsia police station.
The police are investigating if he was under the influence of any substance and why he had come to a residential neighbourhood over 5km from Sudder Street to climb a tree. The Japanese consulate confirmed that Takeru held a valid tourist visa. "We have checked his credentials and he is indeed a Japanese national," said Yasuhiko Tanaka, acting consul-general in Kolkata.
Jyoita Das, a resident of 68A Christopher Road, the building that houses the neem tree, said around 10.30pm, she suddenly heard someone down. When a fire officer tried to climb up a ladder, Takeru pushed it. For the next three hours, he kept throwing branches at firemen and police intermittently.
"The rain made the task more difficult. The policemen got a guide who understood Japanese, who then told the cops why Takeru had climbed the tree and that he wanted to speak to a Japanese cop," said Tarun Kumar Sinha, divisional fire officer of south Kolkata division.
The youth had climbed coughing outside her third floor balcony. She flashed the torchlight at the tree and found a bald, bare-bodied man on the tree just five feet away.
"I thought he was a thief and shouted for help. Then I realized he was saying something. He kept repeating that he was “Japanese“ and did not know English. He asked for a Japanese policemen," the homemaker said.
She immediately called the police, who arrived with fire department personnel and tried to bring Takeru the tree after swimming across a pond and was completely wet. "He seemed thirsty. He had hung his trousers from a branch and kept wringing it to get some water out to drink. We offered him water but he refused," said Joyita.
Later, policemen zeroed in on his roommate Saita Eiji, who said that Takeru had left the hotel in the afternoon and did not return. After seeing Saita, Takeru got agitated and began to abuse him In the meantime, firemen spread a safety net around the tree to break his fall. Around 7.30am, when fireman reached up to grab him, he jumped off and fell into the adjacent pond. Disaster management group personnel jumped in to nab him before he could get away .
(Source: Times of India, Kolkata dated 2016-08-03. Article courtesy: Tamaghna Banerjee)
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