A former soldier of the Indian Army has allegedly committed suicide because of the delay in the One Rank, One Pension scheme's implementation. Ram Kishan Grewal consumed poison at Delhi's Jantar Mantar on Tuesday, where he had been protesting against the government allegedly going back on its word to implement the OROP scheme, The Hindu reported.

According to Aam Aadmi Party MLA from Delhi Cantonment, Commando Surender, Grewal consumed poison while waiting to meet Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar along with a group of fellow protestors. A senior police officer said the 69-year-old and the others wanted to submit a memorandum to the minister to reiterate their demands.

Parrikar said he was "saddened by the death of Ram Kishan Grewal" on Twitter. He expressed his heartfelt condolences and said he had asked the authorities concerned to brief him about the case.

In a suicide note the ex-serviceman purportedly left behind, Grewal said he was committing suicide for soldiers, according to India Today. His son told ANI that he had called his family and informed them of his decision to take his life because "the government had failed to fulfill their demands" related to the OROP scheme.

His suicide comes weeks after Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he had fulfilled the government's promise to implement the scheme, saying the Centre had already disbursed Rs 5,500 crore for it. Modi had reiterated the statement on Sunday to soldiers at the border in Himachal Pradesh's Kinnaur district, where he celebrated Diwali with jawans.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal took to Twitter to express his views on the suicide. "Soldiers fight at the border against external enemies and fight within for their rights. The whole nation should stand up for their rights," he said.

The Defence Ministry had reinstated the OROP scheme in September 2015, more than 43 years after the formula for calculating pensions for those retiring from India's armed forces was terminated by the Indira Gandhi government. It formally notified the OROP scheme for more than 24 lakh ex-servicemen and six lakh war widows in the country on November 8, 2015.

However, the veterans had said that the government's version had "seven serious shortcomings", which would nullify the definition of scheme. Ex-service personnel have conducted several major protests and hunger strikes for several months demanding that their recommendations be included.