Kolkata: A Japanese youth took refuge atop a neem tree in the city throughout last night under apprehension that his visa had expired and he would be arrested, creating commotion in the area that ended today with his jumping into a pond before being rescued.

However, the youth’s passport and visa were found to be in order.

Arima Takeru (24), who was staying at a lodge on Stuart Lane in Topsia in the eastern part of the city had climbed the tree at around 10.45 PM yesterday apprehending arrest as he thought that his visa and passport had expired, police said.

As he kept screaming in a Japanese dialect, locals unable to understand him, called up police and the fire brigade to rescue him.

“But when officers from the Disaster Management Group (DMG) and the fire brigade department reached the spot the youth thought that they had arrived to arrest him. So he climbed even higher in fear,” a senior police officer said.

Efforts to convince him proved to be futile as he did not understand their language and an interpreter was called from the Japanese consulate to communicate with him.

“This continued throughout the night. In the morning when one of the officers from DMG managed to catch one of his hands. But he managed to release himself from the officer’s grasp and jumped into a pond just beside the tree,” the police officer said.

Takeru was taken to a nearby medical facility from where he was released after preliminary treatment.

PTI