Himanshu Roy commits suicide at Mumbai residence: A look at celebrated top cop's important cases

Former Maharashtra ATS chief and Additional Director General of Police (Establishment), Himanshu Roy allegedly committed suicide on Friday by shooting himself with his service revolver at around 1.40 pm at his Mumbai residence. Although the top rank police officer was rushed to a Mumbai hospital, he was declared brought dead. Roy was on a long leave on medical grounds since April 2016, according to a  Mumbai Mirror report. It is believed that he was suffering from cancer and was depressed. However, the exact reasons behind his death are not yet known. [caption id=“attachment_4465583” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Himanshu Roy. News18[/caption] Roy, a celebrated police officer, had a battery of sensitive and high-profile cases to his credit, which drew a lot of media attention. He was the joint commissioner, crime, between 2010 and 2014, during which period Roy cracked the IPL betting scam and the murders of Laila Khan and five of her relatives at the family’s Igatpuri house. An officer of the 1998 batch, Roy had a sterling career spanning close to 20 years and he had around five years of service left. According to an  India Today report he was credited with setting up Mumbai’s first Cyber Crime Cell, anti-dacoity measures in rural Maharashtra and the women’s cell — models which have been replicated through the state today. Here is a look at the some of the important cases in his career. Shakti Mills gang-rape case: In August 2013, a photojournalist who worked with an English magazine was raped by five people when she had gone to the desolate Shakti Mills premises with a male colleague on an assignment. The woman was dragged to a desolate corner and the men took turns raping her while holding a broken beer bottle to her neck. Roy, who was the Joint Commissioner of Police, Crime, at the time, led the investigation and cracked open the case in less than 24 hours and managed to arrest all accused within three days of the crime. One of the minors was detained on 23 August — a day after the photojournalist was raped — and the remaining accused, Salim Ansari, Qasim Bangali, Vijay Jadhav, and Siraj Khan were arrested within a week of the crime. The police filed a 600 page-long chargesheet in just 27 days after the crime. It was the prompt action by the Mumbai Police that emboldened another rape survivor to come out and register a complaint against the same set of men. Another woman, who worked as a telephone operator in the area, reported in September that she was also raped at the mill compound on 31 July by the same set of people. The Mumbai Police, under Roy’s leadership, built a strong case following which all five adult accused in both rape cases were convicted on 13 counts by a Mumbai sessions court in March 2014. On 4 April 2014, the court sentenced the three repeat offenders in the photojournalist rape case to death. From the other two accused, one was awarded life imprisonment while the other accused turned approver in the case. Two minors, one in each case, were tried by the Juvenile Justice Board separately. They were convicted on 15 July 2015 and sentenced to three years (including time in custody) in a Nashik reform school, the maximum punishment that a juvenile offender can receive under Indian law. IPL spot-fixing scam: The 2013 IPL spot-fixing scandal, which saw the names of celebrity figures like cricketer Sreesanth get marred, was solved by the Delhi and Mumbai police in parts. The Delhi Police had arrested three cricketers—Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan—on the charges of spot-fixing. In a separate case, Mumbai Police arrested actor Vindu Dara Singh and Chennai Super Kings Team Principal and then BCCI president N Sreenivasan’s son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan for alleged betting and having links with bookies. The crime branch, under Roy’s leadership, unearthed call records of conversations between Vindu and Meiyappan, which uncovered the betting scandal. Journalist J Dey murder case: A Mid-Day crime reporter Jyotirmoy Dey was shot by two motorcycle-borne men on 11 June, 2011, in suburban Powai when he was on his way to his residence. However, the Mumbai Police  cracked the case 16 days after the murder and revealed that underworld don Chhota Rajan was behind the murder. According to the police, the killing was carried out at the behest of Rajan, who was purportedly ‘unhappy’ with the negative reports that Dey had been writing on his health and his diminishing clout in the underworld. A total of 12 persons were arrested in the case, including Rajan, Satish Joseph alias Satish Kaliya, the shooter, and Vora. One of the accused, Vinod Asrani, died after prolonged illness in 2015, pending trial. Journalist Jigna Vora, also charged by the police for instigating the crime, was later acquitted. However, all other convicts including Rajan were sentenced to life imprisonment by a special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court in Mumbai. Laila Khan murder case: Roy and his team led the investigation into another sensational murder case in Igatpuri, near Mumbai. Bollywood actor Laila Khan alias Reshma Nadirshah Patel (30) and five of her family members including her mother Shehlina Khan went missing in 2011. Their skeletons were recovered a year later at a farmhouse owned by Laila in Igatpuri. Roy, who led the investigation told reporters that the bodies were recovered in deep pits, which were covered by mattress, mud, and stones to keep wild animals away. The Mumbai Police, later established that the family were enjoying a vacation at their Igatpurifarmhousee in February 2011 when Laila’s mother’s third husband, Parvez Iqbal Tak (29) allegedly killed all the six family members in a ‘fit of rage.’ The police investigation revealed that Tak was jealous because of Shehlina’s proximity to her second husband Aasif Sheikh,  The Hindu reported at the time. Asif was helping the family in relocating to Dubai and not having a passport, Tak felt insecure that the family would abandon him in India. The police secured Tak’s admission and the case remains subjudice. Follow latest updates on the story here