‘Took 5G plan, got poor 4G’: UP villagers take telecom technician hostage

In a bizarre incident in Uttar Pradesh’s Fatehpur district, a group of frustrated villagers held a Jio Network employee (technician) captive and tied him to a mobile tower for roughly two hours to protest against persistent poor network connectivity in the area.

The incident… pic.twitter.com/QYR7tgwZfJ

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“We also arrested them on charges of breach of peace,” said Station House Officer of Bindki police station, Shailesh Kumar Singh.

Hardauli village, which has a mixed population, is 30 km from the Fatehpur district headquarters.

In the video, villagers can be heard saying they had been facing connectivity failures for the past two years.

Police said during their probe, locals claimed they were purchasing data packages for 5G plans but were getting poor 4G connectivity instead, with their phone connections dropping after some time.

Thursday was Singh’s first visit to the tower, police said. Locals claimed no staff had turned up at the tower in the previous three months.

“Singh had joined the firm around three months ago,” a police officer said.

“A section of the villagers told us they believed tying the technician with a rope would send a message to senior officials, prompting other staff to come and resolve their problem,” the officer said.

Fatehpur SP Abhimanyu Manglik said police registered an FIR after the incident came to their notice through social media.

“A case has come to light through social media wherein a technician in Hardouli village under Thana Bindki jurisdiction was taken hostage by local individuals,” Manglik said.

He added that the villagers had made a video demonstrating that the 5G network was not available in the area and had allegedly taken the technician hostage over the issue.

Police said further legal action was being taken in the case.