The alleged suicide of Subedar Ram Kishan Grewal on Tuesday evening over the delay in implementation of One Rank One Pension (OROP)has left many questions unanswered.
However, the recording of the last call by Grewal made to his son Jaswant which is in possession with The Pioneer could help investigators under what really went wrong. Grewal told his son that he has fought for the nation and he is the true son of India. He said he had come to Delhi to fight for justice but has failed and can never succeed. “I am sacrificing my life because of this reason,” Grewal is heard telling his son over the phone. Grewal's son Jaswant is also heard crying on the phone telling his father to have confidence and not give up.
In the three-minute audio clip released by his son, Grewal told him that he took the decision to end his life for the supreme cause of the implementation of OROP. Calling it an act of duty towards his fellow ex-servicemen who had been collectively raising and fighting for the issue, Grewal said on the phone before committing suicide, “Main usulu ka aadmi ho and apne saathiya ke liye, unke sangharsh ke liye, maine yeh kadam uthaya hai (I am a man of principles. I took this step for our right and our fight for the speedy implementation).
A senior police officer said they are verifying the purported voice recording. “We are unable to understand that Jaswant did not inform police about the suicidal intentions of his father and why he did not try to prevent him from doing so”, the official added. When asked about the purported suicide note written by Grewal, a senior police officers said the same is being examined. Since the note was not recovered from the body of the deceased, we have sent the same for forensic examination to ascertain whether the hand writing is of Grewal.
Grewal, a resident of Bamla village in Bhiwani district in Haryana, had come to the national Capital on Monday night with his associates Jagdish Rai, Mirthi Singh and Subhe Singh, said sources, adding that then they went to Ministry of Defence at South Block on Tuesday morning but could not meet Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar as his name was not in the list of appointments despite he claming to have taken prior appointment. “Grewal came to my house in Bhiwani and requested me to come along with him. He said he was pained over not getting the increment in (OROP) as promised by the Central Government. Grewal reportedly told me that he had taken appointment with the Defence Minister. After I agreed to accompany him, he asked me to sign on a memorandum, which he said had printed a day before,” Mirthi Singh, an ex-servicemen told The Pioneer.
Singh said Grewal had rented a car and they went to the house of ex-servicemen Jagdish Rai, who also lives in the same district. They also took along another Subhe Singh with them. “We reached Delhi on Monday night and on Tuesday and first went to Minsitry of Defence and then to the house of lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan but in vain. After that Grewal stopped at a place and wrote something on the memorandum and also called his son but we could not hear as he stood at some distance while talking to his son over phone,” said Jagdish, another associate of Grewal.
Only when they reached a lawn behind Jawahar Bhawan in New Delhi's south Avenue, Grewal suddenly collapsed and started frothing from the mouth, added Jagdish. “We took him to Dr Ram Manohar lohia hospital as his condition was deteriorating. He was admitted in the emergency ward and died after four hours,” Jagdish said.
Grewal, a native of Bhiwani joined the Indian Army 30 years ago, is survived by seven children: three sons (studying) and two daughters who are married. For the first six years, he served in the 105 Infantry Battalion, Rajkiya Rifles and later on served in the Defence Corps.