Six arrested in Fatehpur after villagers tie telecom technician to tower over 5G outage

Six villagers have been arrested in Uttar Pradesh's Fatehpur district after a telecom technician was allegedly tied to a mobile tower during a protest over a prolonged 5G network outage, a senior police officer said on Friday.

The technician, identified as Aditya Bhan Singh, had gone to Hardauli village in the Bindki area on Thursday to look into a mobile network complaint when some residents allegedly detained him and tied him to the tower, demanding that the connectivity problem be resolved.

A video that surfaced on social media, purportedly showing Mr. Singh tied to the tower and surrounded by villagers, prompted police to reach the village and rescue him. In the clip, a villager is heard saying the technician would not be released until senior company officials arrived and addressed the issue.

Superintendent of Police Abhimanyu Manglik said residents claimed the area had been grappling with poor mobile connectivity, particularly 5G services, for nearly two years despite a private telecom tower being installed there. They alleged that the network frequently remained unavailable even when electricity was available, affecting calls and internet access, and said they had been paying for 5G services without any significant improvement.

Acting on a complaint filed by Mr. Singh, police registered an FIR against unidentified villagers on Friday and subsequently arrested Rahul Patel (28), Suraj Yadav (21), Alok Patel (29), Yogendra Patel (36), Alok Yadav (31) and Sachin Patel (30).

The six were produced before a magistrate and later released on bail, police said, adding that the investigation is continuing.