Lance Naik Roy Mathew who allegedly committed suicide days after a sting video featuring him surfaced reportedly said in his suicide note that no one should be held responsible for his death and that he would prefer to die than being court marshalled.
The police officials who had recovered a diary from the spot where he was found hanging from a ceiling had managed to translate the contents of the diary which were originally written in Malayalam. However, the diary has been sent to the forensic teams to clarify his handwriting. According to an Indian Express report, the jawan had written in his diary that “No one should be held responsible for my death.”
The note also had a mention of a lady who approached him and questioned about the sahayak system. He said in his diary that he “casually” spoke to her and never said anything against the army officials. He also apologised to his wife for taking the drastic step adding that he “would prefer death to being court marshalled.”
The police are currently investigating the matter and will also quiz the journalist who conducted the sting operation. However, the family has not registered any case as yet.
The death of an army jawan days after a sting video showed him criticising the ‘Sahayak system in army’ has put the role of media under scanner and the limits it should not cross while making an expose. Lance Naik Roy Mathew was found hanging from the ceiling of an abandoned barrack in the Deolali Army Cantonment on March 2. The suicide comes against a backdrop of a sting video that was uploaded by news website ‘The Quint’, in which he had spoken on the ‘sahayak’ system in the Indian Army. Lance Naik Mathew’s younger brother, John said, the jawan was worried about the sting video, and that the “media cheated him”.
The army on Friday issued a press release stating that “guilt” may have driven Mathew to commit suicide.
