A middle-aged man was allegedly confined in a flat on Dakbungalow Road on Wednesday for not being able to return the money that he had taken as advance from his employer.

Sambhu Kumar’s plight came to the fore when some people saw him breaking a window of the flat and then trying to reach out to the beam of the room. They thought he was trying to commit suicide.

The man was later brought to Kotwali police station.

“Sambhu was an employee with a construction company, the office of which is located on the eighth floor of the same building. He was earlier posted in Nalanda. Citing working conditions in Nalanda as poor, he had sought a posting in Patna,” deputy superintendent of police (law and order) Lalit Sharma said.

“When he reached Patna today, he was asked to pay back Rs 9,000 that he had taken as advance with last month’s salary. But when he could not pay back the amount, he was locked in the flat,” the officer added. Sharma said Sambhu alleged that he was kept without food and water the entire day. He added that when officials of the company allegedly refused to free him, he decided to break the window open and draw people’s attention.

The police have asked him to lodge an FIR.