OROP suicide: Ex-serviceman may have been incited to end life, says govt

New Delhi: Ex-servicemen Ram Krishan Grewal, who committed suicide on Tuesday after allegedly not receiving the money through One Rank One Pension (OROP), may have been encouraged to take his life.

According to a report in NDTV, Grewal made a last phone call to his son Jaswant Grewal before he committed suicide. In the phone call, recorded by his son, he could be heard saying, "I have consumed poison, I am at Jawahar Bhawan".

NDTV reports that sources in the Ministry of Defence feel circumstances of his death merit thorough investigation.

It needs to be found who was with Grewal when he took the extreme step, who provided the poison and if anyone took advantage of his troubled mind to provoke him to take the extreme step,’ the MoD source is quoted as saying.

Grewal said his suicide was a ‘sacrifice’ for the jawans and for his country.

His family has claimed that Grewal was trying to meet Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar with a petition to demand an increase in pension that was promised under the OROP scheme.

However, the ministry has not received any request for appointment, said the report.

Grewal was one of the recipients of benefits under the revised pension scheme, Defence Ministry had said on Wednesday.

However, Ministry sources said Grewal had received a lesser amount as part of the One Rank-One Pension scheme under the 6th pay commission due to an error in calculation by the SBI bank branch in Bhiwani district of Haryana.

On Wednesday, minister VK Singh had begun a controversy by claiming that Grewal's mental health status had to be examined before conclusions could be drawn about his suicide.

The ex-serviceman's suicide has become a hot political issue with Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal attempting to visit the deceased's family at Ram Manohar Lohia hospital on Wednesday. Both were let off after detention by the police, but family members of Grewal were arrested.