“The media cheated him… His family has lost their sole breadwinner… Roy never knew that the journalist was secretly shooting him,” said John Mathew, younger brother of deceased soldier Lance Naik Roy Mathew.

According to an Indian Express report, the soldier who was found hanging from the ceiling of an abandoned barrack in the Deolali Army Cantonment on Thursday (2 March), is said to have been worried about the sting video uploaded by news website The Quint. The video, titled “Soldier or Servant?” uploaded on 23 February and later taken off the website, was allegedly shot without Roy’s knowledge and had him talking about the “buddy” system in the Indian Army that involves carrying out personal chores for officers.

Roy, who last spoke to his wife Finny on 25 February, is said to have wept and expressed his fears about the video, as he had been summoned by the officials. That was the last time they had heard from him.

The family learnt of his ‘suicide’, which the army says was caused by ‘guilt’, only after they sent a petition to the army chief, through local member of Parliament Suresh Kodikunnil seeking a probe into the matter. Nashik Police has registered a case of accidental death.