"Kothi" Rama - Mr. Jyothi Raj to scale tallest Mangaluru sky-scraper

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangaluru, Dec 6, 2014: The city will be enthralled by adventures of Jyothi Raj alias Kothi Rama from Chitradurga on Dec 7, Sunday. Raj will make an attempt to scale the tallest building in the city - on Airport Road near Padavinangady. The 80 mts high, 24-floor skyscraper was inaugurated in May 2014.

Better known as Kothi (monkey) for his agility in climbing tall structures, Jyothi Raj said: This will be my peak building scaling attempt so far. I had successfully climbed TV Tower in Bengaluru which is about 23 floors. I have scaled taller structures like the boulder in Ramanagara which is about 1,200 ft.  Raj is famous for scaling the Chitradurga Fort without safety harnesses and also the only person to scaled 830-foot Jog falls from bottom up against the flow of water.

At the moment, Raj is training at Chitradurga Fort for this mega-effort. I am visualising how to climb the building and have chosen boulders which are presenting me similar  challenges as the Mangaluru building. It is a tough challenge.

  Earlier,  in September 2012, he had left police in a daze  when he scaled the 10-storey Shalini Enclave on PVS Kalakunj Road .  Then the monkey man was on his way to Udupi on invitation of huli veshadhari’’ Ashok Kadabettu to perform acrobatics at Udupi Nehru Maidan.  His attempt to climb the PVS Building here did not take place as the building authorities denied permission.

The police who came after he got down from the building said they would have taken him into custody as he had not taken their permission to perform the stunt. In the event of some mishap we would have booked a person from Barke who had announced he would take responsibility  police had said.

In-Land Infrastructure Developers Chairman & Managing Director, Siraj Ahmed said that  Raj sought permission. According to our legal advisers, he will have to give an undertaking that he will be responsible for his safety and we will not have no responsibility in case of a mishap. I have also asked him to seek permission from Mangalore City Police.

Police Commissioner R Hithendra said he has been asked to approach Kavoor police station. He said there is no provision under the law to give him permission, safety and security of all concerned is the focus.