Senior IPS officer Himanshu Roy allegedly shot himself in the mouth with his service revolver at his Colaba home around 1.45 pm on Friday.
Roy, former Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) chief and additional director general of police (housing), was rushed to Bombay hospital in Marine Lines, where he was declared dead. He had been battling cancer for a long time, and had been on extended medical leave.
Doctors at Bombay hospital confirmed his death. ‘He was brought dead an hour ago. He shot himself. His body is in the casualty,’ said Dr Gautam Bhansali, general physician at the hospital.
The 1988-batch IPS officer was born in Colaba and went to the prestigious Campion School before graduating from Mumbai’s St Xavier’s College. He tried to study medicine and follow in his father’s footsteps after Class 12, but gave it up soon and went on to become a chartered accountant. Police officials outside IPS officer Himanshu Roy’s apartment, near Mantralaya, south Mumbai, on Friday afternoon.
He worked for a couple of years with global accounting firm Arthur Andersen, before appearing for his UPSC examinations. It is at the examination hall in Mazgaon that he met his future wife Bhavna, sister of author Amish Tripathi. Bhavna went on to become an IAS officer but soon after their marriage, she quit the IAS and got involved in social services.
Roy was first posted at Malegaon in 1991, where he handled the post-Babri Masjid demolition riots. Later, he served as superintendent of police in Nashik and Ahmednagar, before he was appointed deputy commissioner of police of Mumbai police’s Economic Offences Wing, traffic and zone 1.
He was promoted and served as Nashik’s police commissioner between 2004 and 2007.
In 2009, he was made joint commissioner of police (crime), Mumbai, and is credited to have cracked cases such as the shooting of Arif Bael — the driver of Dawood Ibrahim’s brother Iqbal Kaskar — along with journalist J Dey’s murder, the double murder involving Vijay Palande, Laila Khan murder case and the murder of lawyer Pallavi Purkhayasta.
Roy was also instrumental in investigating the 2013 Indian Premier League (IPL) spot-fixing and betting scandal, and was responsible for the arrest of Vindu Dara Singh, for his alleged links to bookies. Standing at 6 feet 2 inches, Roy towered over most officers. He was a fitness freak and worked out every day. HT
