‘He may have felt that he let down his superiors; media’s questioning of sahayak system also a reason’

The Army on Friday issued a strong statement on the suicide of Lance Naik (L/Nk) Roy Mathew, observing that he likely took the extreme step due to media personnel asking him “leading questions” on the sahayak system and his “resultant guilt” in letting down his superiors.

“Preliminary investigations have now revealed that the suicide may be the result of a series of events, which were triggered by media personnel managing to video-graph the deceased by asking leading questions on his duties as a buddy without his knowledge. It is very likely that the guilt factor of letting down his superiors or conveying a false impression to an unknown individual, led him to take the extreme step,” the Army said in a statement.

Sting operation

Online media portal The Quint had put out a video on February 24 based on a “sting” operation which featured L/Nk Mathew, posted as a sahayak at Devlali in Maharashtra, talking about the jobs they were made to do under the orderly system .

Army sources said that he had last called his wife on February 25 and he had gone missing since. His wife said that he was under a lot of stress and was disturbed, but he did not tell her why, an Army officer said.

Declared AWOL

“From February 25 onwards, this individual was declared Absent Without Leave (AWOL) and an apprehension roll was registered with the police as per existing orders on the subject, till his body was recovered from an abandoned barrack outside the unit lines in Devlali cantonment,” the Army stated.

The Army rejected reports of an inquiry being ordered against L/Nk Mathew following the video as, “The identities of the Army personnel involved in the clipping was hidden and thereby not known to the Army.”

L/Nk Mathew’s body was found on Thursday after some Army personnel felt a foul smell from the abandoned barracks.

The Army has lodged a complaint with the local police and an internal inquiry has been ordered to investigate the circumstances leading to L/Nk Mathew’s death.