A tense situation prevailed in Kolkata on Monday afternoon when a man, who was struggling financially and emotionally after separation from his wife, threatened to jump from a bridge.

However, policemen arrived at the scene and acted promptly to pacify the 40-year-old man, who later changed his mind when the police promised to help him get a job and gave him a packet of biryani.

A police officer from Karaya police station said that due to the incident, traffic on one of the busiest roads of the city was disrupted for about half an hour.

The man was with his elder daughter when he walked onto the bridge and threatened to jump.

“Around 2.30 pm, he was taking his elder daughter to Science City on his two-wheeler. He suddenly stopped near the bridge and told her that his mobile phone had fallen somewhere on the road and he was trying to find it,” the police said.

Onlookers present on the bridge alerted the police, who immediately reached the spot with a team from the Kolkata Police Disaster Management Group (DMG) and the fire department.

After learning about the man’s recent separation and business losses, police officers have a heart-to-heart talk aimed at deescalating the situation and providing him hope.

“We spoke to his daughter to understand the problem and accordingly planned a conversation to convince her and bring her down. And finally, after we proposed, he agreed to come down,” the police said.

(With PTI inputs)

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