Man leaps from tree to tree, faces arrest

A brick kiln worker faces arrest for jumping from a tree apparently to commit suicide in Navi Mumbai on Saturday.

The police suspect the man, who has been admitted to the same hospital where his son was being treated, may be mentally unsound.

Sakharam Dive, who is in his 40s, sustained minor injuries when he jumped from a 25-ft tree in Kamothe’s MGM Hospital compound after an hour-long drama during which the police, fire personnel and the hospital authorities tried to convince him not to leap.

A resident of Taravle village, Dive was sitting with his son who is being treated for gangrene, when he got into an argument with the hospital staff, the police said.

“The staff and his wife Manjula asked him to leave the premises,” said Senior Police Inspector B.R. Patil. “This angered Sakharam and he climbed out of the hospital’s second-floor window, on to a tree next to it.”

He then went hopping from one tree to another, threatening all the while to jump.

The hospital authorities pleaded with him. Eventually, the police and the fire brigade were called.

Still Dive refused to climb down and eventually jumped from a height of about 25 ft.

“He sustained minor injuries and has been admitted to the same hospital,” said Patil. “He seems to be in a disturbed state of mind. We will investigate why he jumped.”