Bhubaneswar, Sept. 13: This morning around 7am, CRPF jawan Surendar Kumar came down from the 100-feet water tank that he had climbed yesterday after spending over 16 hours on top.

It was a scene straight out of Sholay yesterday where a drunk Veeru threatens to commit suicide by jumping off a water tank.

Kumar, harbouring a grouse against his seniors for “torturing him mentally”, had threatened to commit suicide by jumping off the water tank on the premises of the CRPF group centre here.

He said he decided to come down after higher officials promised to fulfil his demands.

“The higher officials agreed to grant me leave and they have also promised to drop the inquiry against me,” he said.

The CRPF officials had sought help of the fire brigade, local police and Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force to save him.

However, the 33-year-old Kumar came down from the water tank around 7am this morning by himself.

Later, he was admitted to the CRPF hospital on the same campus.

Deputy inspector-general of the CRPF centre, Bhubaneswar, Subrat Mishra, said no action would be initiated against Kumar because he was “mentally unstable”.

“He has been admitted to the hospital on the campus and is undergoing treatment. He decided to come down on his own,” said Mishra.

People residing around the CRPF campus also gathered in large numbers waiting for Kumar to come down.

“We have been praying for his safety. We were relieved when he came down unhurt this morning,” said Sarat Chandra Samal, a resident of Rental Colony.

Yesterday, CRPF officials used loudspeakers and pleaded with Kumar to come down. The officials, fearing that he may jump, had also spread nets and jumping sheets under the water tank.

Kumar, a native of Jammu and Kashmir, who is employed as a driver with the CRPF, alleged yesterday that he had been denied leave since February. He also said that the authorities deliberately withheld his transfer to his home state.

Senior CRPF officials rebuffed this allegation and described him as mentally unstable.

They said Kumar had been undergoing treatment at SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack.

However, some of his colleagues did not buy this version.

“I have known him for two years. He behaves very normally and has a nice approach towards his colleagues,” said a CRPF jawan, on condition of anonymity.

Kumar, who got married last year, has been posted at the CRPF centre, Bhubaneswar, for four years now. He has been with the force for 10 years.