Kolkata, June 25: A 33-year-old male patient, who had gone out of his room in a private hospital in Kolkata and sat on the edge of a cornice on the seventh floor of the building for over two hours, died after a fatal fall on Saturday, police said. The man, identified as Sujit Adhikary, was scheduled to be discharged during the day. Personnel of the police, Fire Brigade and the hospital had tried hard to bring him back to the ward.

He fell from there shortly after 1 AM critically injuring himself and died in the evening. The state government sought a report from the hospital authorities in this regard. He had sneaked to the cornice through a gap in the glass window in the ward where he was under treatment at the Institute of Neuroscience at Mullickbazar in the southern part of the city.

The resident of Dumdum area in north Kolkata then sat on the edge precariously for around two hours as anxious bystanders looked on. He fell off at around 1:10 pm and hit the cornice of the floors below thrice before landing on the ground, an officer of Beniapukur Police Station said.

Adhikary's skull, waist, rib cage and left hand were badly damaged. He was rushed to the ITU of the hospital where he died at around 6.25 pm, hospital sources said. Kolkata Shocker: Neuroscience Hospital Patient Sits On Edge of Highrise Institute Building (See Pics).

According to the hospital authorities, the patient was absolutely "fine" and was talking to hospital staff and had not shown any sign of "depression". The police officer said it appeared that the patient had stood up on the cornice on seeing a net being fixed by the disaster management personnel on the ground and tried to climb down. But his hand slipped and he fell.

Hospital employees had put up sofas, cushions and other soft materials on the ground close to the wall but the patient fell on the ground. Adhikari's family who had earlier tried to reason with him broke down on seeing him fall. The hydraulic ladder which was rushed to the spot could not be used as Adhikary threatened to jump when it was brought near him, the police official said. The patient had ignored the pleas of the hospital employees and fire brigade personnel to return to the ward.

A crowd gathered before the hospital to have a glimpse of the man and many urged him to move away from the spot. The gathering affected vehicular traffic on one flank of the busy A J C Bose Road. The hospital closed its main entrance after the incident.

“The patient is covered under insurance and he was not overcharged as alleged by some people,” a hospital official said. Stating that the hospital will conduct an investigation on its own, the official said that they have found bolts of the window, through which the patient had apparently escaped, broken.

"It's a very unfortunate incident. The man had lost his wife only 22 days back and maybe he was depressed because of that," Fire Services Minister Sujit Bose said.