Villagers tie up telecom technician over 5G network outage in Fatehpur, six arrested

In a village in Uttar Pradesh's Fatehpur, villagers grew increasingly frustrated with their poor mobile connectivity and took drastic measures on Thursday. They allegedly kidnapped a telecom technician, Aditya Bhan Singh, and tied him to an internet tower in Hardauli village. The police were alerted to the incident, but by the time they arrived, the technician had been released. A video of the event quickly circulated on social media, showing Singh in a rope tied to the tower with youth and children nearby.

The police identified seven men who were present at the scene, six of whom were subsequently arrested for wrongful confinement and breach of peace. Station House Officer Shailesh Kumar Singh revealed that villagers had been experiencing connectivity issues for the past two years. According to their accounts, they had been paying for 5G data packages but were only receiving 4G connectivity, with their phone signals frequently dropping after a while.

During their investigation, the police discovered that locals claimed no staff had visited the tower in the previous three months. Singh, who had only recently started working for the company, had been informed that tying the technician to the tower was meant to send a message to senior officials, prompting other staff to come and resolve the problem.

Fatehpur Superintendent of Police Abhimanyu Manglik confirmed that an FIR had been filed following the incident, which originated from a video shared on social media. The video demonstrated that the 5G network was unavailable in the area, and the villagers claimed they had taken the technician hostage in response to the issue. Further legal action is being taken in the case.