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Ahoy, man atop!

A distraught youth, demanding President K R Narayanan's intervention to get his 'abducted' wife released, remained atop the 200-feet microwave tower at the New Delhi railway station for the fifth day.

The police and fire brigade officials had earlier made futile attempts to get Ashraf Jamal Khan, a resident of Varanasi, to come down. However, they withdrew after nearly 72 hours, leaving the railway police at the site.

Khan's only companion atop is his mobile phone through which he is making relentless efforts to talk to the President.

He claimed his wife has been abducted by her family. And if she is not rescued, he threatened, he would jump to death.

Khan's mother and brother, too, made futile attempts to persuade him down.

This is Khan's second stint atop the tower. He had adopted the same posture to rescue his wife in November. Then, assurances from Phoolan Devi's husband Ummed Singh had brought him to earth.

Khan claimed he spoke to his wife on January 14 on the phone. If he jumps, he said, she would also commit suicide.

The youth said he had spent Rs 50,000 in the capital looking for help. He knocked on all possible doors, but none had opened.

UNI