Mumbai: 35-year-old man seeking job jumps from second floor of Mantralaya, lands on safety net

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Claiming to be project-affected and seeking a government job, a 35-year-old man on Tuesday jumped onto a safety net at the state headquarters Mantralaya in Mumbai, police told news agency PTI.

The man jumped off the second floor of Mantralaya, the headquarters of the Maharashtra government in South Mumbai but landed on the safety net, police said.

"A man jumped off the second floor of Mantralaya. He fell on the safety net put up there so there was nothing untoward and he was safe," Mumbai Police said, reported news agency ANI.

According to PTI, Ranjeet Awhad, a resident of Pathardi in Ahmednagar district, was visiting the Mantralaya in the afternoon to seek a full-time teacher's job at a government school, claiming that he was project-affected.

A safety net has been installed in the building after incidents of people jumping from the higher floors in a bid to end life. Awhad landed in the net and was removed by the police personnel on duty, an official told PTI.

Later a case under section 309 of the IPC (attempt to commit suicide) was registered against him at Marine Drive police station. He was produced before a court which released him on bail, the official told PTI.

In another similar incident in November last year, a man jumped from the sixth floor of the Mantralaya in Mumbai in a suicide attempt and was rescued after he landed in the safety net installed in the building.

Meanwhile, Mumbai Police registered a case against 11 protesters on the charge of attempting suicide after they climbed onto a safety net on the first floor of the Maharashtra secretariat in south Mumbai for various demands, an official said, the PTI reported.

A group of protesters on August 29 allegedly climbed onto the safety net set up on the first floor of Mantralaya demanding proper compensation for their land acquired for the Upper Wardha dam project. They are residents of Morshi in Amravati district, according to police, according to the PTI.

The protesters also demanded four acres farm land for each villager whose land was acquired for the dam project and state government jobs for the project-affected people, the official said.

After the protest, police detained at least 40 protesters.

An FIR was registered against 11 of them under section 120 B (Criminal conspiracy), 143 (Unlawful assembly), 309 (Attempt to commit suicide) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and relevant sections of the Maharashtra Police Act for disobeying orders of Mumbai Police, the official said.

All the accused persons were allowed to go after serving them a notice to appear before the court, he added.

(With inputs from PTI and ANI)