A petty shop owner in Coimbatore kept police on tenterhooks after he climbed atop a cell phone tower in the city on Wednesday morning and refused to get down, demanding that he be reunited with his wife, who was allegedly taken away by her parents some days ago, in collusion with police.

Arunkumar, running an old plastic shop in Sulur, claimed he had fallen in love with a girl of a different caste in Palladam and married her six months ago.

Her parents then lodged a complaint with police, who reportedly forcibly took away his wife and handed her over to them, he said.

Though he submitted petition to the District Collector and Superintendent of Police, there was no response from them and so he chose this mode of agitation to highlight his problem to the powers that be, police said.

Taking food packets with him, Arunkumar climbed the 160 feet tower at 9.00 AM and refused to get down despite requests from police and revenue department officials to start negotiations, He demanded that his wife be reunited with him, police said.