Delhi: FB official from Ireland, police save 27-year-old from possible suicide

The man was traced to near Khajoori Chowk in northeast Delhi, nearly 500 metres away from the Signature Bridge, senior police officers associated with the operation said.

A two-hour-long coordinated effort between an Ireland-based official of social networking site Facebook and officers of the Delhi Police helped to save the life of a 27-year-old man who was allegedly contemplating taking his own life by jumping off the Signature Bridge in north Delhi on Friday, the World Suicide Prevention Day.

The 27-year-old man was contemplating taking his own life by jumping off the Signature Bridge. (PTI)

The man was traced to near Khajoori Chowk in northeast Delhi, nearly 500 metres away from the Signature Bridge, senior police officers associated with the operation said.

Police said that the man was upset because of a relationship failure, following which he uploaded a “disturbing post” on the social networking site, hinting that he was contemplating to commit suicide. The post was seen by a Facebook official in Ireland who immediately flagged the matter to the cyber crime unit (CyPAD) of the Delhi Police around 2pm on Friday, said deputy commissioner of police (CyPAD) Anyesh Roy.

“After receiving the information from Facebook regarding the suicidal activity, we zeroed in on the last location of the person near Signature Bridge. The station house officers (SHOs) of Timarpur, Dayalpur and Seelampur were informed. They immediately deployed teams to search for the person near the bridge,” said DCP Roy.

The DCP further said that through analysis of technical data, CyPAD team members were able to reach out to the man’s brother, who quickly joined the police teams in their search operation. The man was located on a road near Khajoori Chowk. “He is counselled by professionals,” said the DCP.

A resident of Seelampur in northeast Delhi, the man was pursuing MBA from a private university but dropped out midway after his relationship ended recently.

“The timely coordinated action by multiple jurisdictional authorities, and prompt technical and field operations helped in saving a life on World Suicide Prevention Day,” said DCP Roy, who also shared the operation’s information on Twitter.

In August last year, a similar coordinated effort between Facebook and police officials of Delhi and Mumbai police helped save the life of a Delhi-based man who had gone to Mumbai after having an argument with his wife.

Despite several attempts, Facebook officials could not be reached for a comment.