IPS officer Roy, disgusted with cancer, kills himself
Mumbai, May 11: Maharashtra's Additional Director General of Police Himanshu Roy, credited with directing investigations into several sensational crimes and high-profile cases, committed suicide by shooting himself in the head here on Friday afternoon.
Often referred to as 'Arnold Schwarzenegger' of Mumbai Police, the 54-year-old Roy shot himself in the mouth with his service revolver at his house in Suniti Apartments at Nariman Point shortly after 1 p.m., a police statement said.
He was rushed to the Bombay Hospital by family members and aides where he was declared dead.
A suicide note found in the house quoted Roy as saying that he was taking his life because he was disgusted with cancer, which he had been battling for some time.
Roy's suicide shocked the police community.
A 'Mumbai boy', Roy studied in the prestigious St. Xaviers College and became a Chartered Accountant. He cleared the UPSC exams to become an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of the 1988 batch.
During his preparations for the UPSC exams in Mumbai, he met his future wife Bhawna, who subsequently became an IAS officer but quit the civil services to devote herself to social work through NGOs in Maharashtra.
A regular gym trainer and fitness enthusiast, Roy would animatedly discuss healthy lifestyle, his fitness regime, diets and related issues with policemen and journalists.
He was popular among his juniors and would regularly guide them on the finer aspects of crime investigation, linking evidence with criminals and presenting a winning case in courts.
Roy started his police career as Superintendent of Police (Rural) in Nashik and Ahmednagar. Later, he headed the Economic Offences Wing in Mumbai, was Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) and also headed the Cyber Crime Cell.
As former Joint Police Commissioner (Crime) and chief of Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS), Roy was credited with directing the investigations into several sensational crimes.
These included the murder of journalist J. Dey. Besides, he directed the probe into the IPL match fixing and betting scams of 2013 in which several top cricketers and Bollywood actor Vindu Dara Singh were among the accused.
He was instrumental in solving the brutal murder of lawyer Pallavi Puryakayastha -- daughter of an IAS couple at the Centre -- at her Mumbai home in August 2012.
In 2012, he was among the officers handpicked by then Home Minister R.R. Patil to oversee the shifting from Mumbai to Pune of Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab, found guilty in the Mumbai terror attack.
Again that year, he cracked the sensational killing of missing Bollywood starlet Laila Khan, who was murdered with five family members at an isolated countryhouse (farmhouse) in Nashik.
Roy oversaw the investigation into the August 2013 gang-rape of a woman photo-journalist inside the desolate Shakti Mills Compound in central Mumbai which culminated in death sentence for three of the accused.
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India harbouring big and bold dreams in space sector: Shubhanshu Shukla
Kolkata (PTI): Air Force Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, the first Indian astronaut to go to the International Space Station, on Wednesday said the country is harbouring “big and bold dreams”, foraying into human spaceflight after a hiatus of 41 years.
Shukla was the first Indian to visit the International Space Station as part of the Axiom-4 mission. He returned to India from the US on August 17, 2025, after the 18-day mission.
The space is a “great place to be”, marked by deep peace and an “amazing view” that becomes more captivating with time, he said, interacting with schoolchildren at an event organised by the Indian Centre for Space Physics here.
“The longer you stay, the more you enjoy it,” Shukla said, adding on a lighter note that he “actually kind of did not want to come back”.
Shukla said the hands-on experience in space was very different from what he had learnt during training.
He said the future of India’s space science was “very bright”, with the country harbouring “very big and bold dreams”.
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Shukla described his ISS flight, undertaken with support from the US, as a crucial “stepping stone” towards realising India’s ‘Vision Gaganyaan’.
“The experience gained is a national asset. It is already being used by internal committees and design teams to ensure ongoing missions are on the right track,” he said.
Shukla said the country’s space ambitions include the Gaganyaan human spaceflight programme, the Bharatiya Station (India’s own space station), and eventually a human landing on the Moon.
While the Moon mission is targeted for 2040, he said these projects are already in the pipeline, and the field will evolve at a “very rapid pace” over the next 10-20 years.
He told the students that though these targets are challenging, they are “achievable by people like you”, urging them to take ownership of India’s aspirations.
The sector will generate “a lot of employment opportunities” as India expands its human spaceflight capabilities, he noted.
Echoing the iconic words of India’s first astronaut Rakesh Sharma, Shukla said that from orbit, “India is still the best in the world”.
Shukla also asserted that the achievement was not his alone, but that of the entire country.
“The youth of India are extremely talented. They must stay focused, remain curious and work hard. It is their responsibility to help build a developed India by 2047,” he said.
Highlighting a shift from Sharma’s era, Shukla said India is now developing a full-fledged astronaut ecosystem.
With Gaganyaan and future missions, children in India will be able to not only dream of becoming astronauts, but also achieving it within the country, he said.
“Space missions help a village kid believe he can go to space someday. When you send one person to space, you lift million hopes. That is why such programmes must continue... The sky is not the limit,” Shukla said.
“Scientists must prepare for systems that will last 20-30 years, while ensuring they can integrate technologies that will emerge a decade from now,” he said.
Shukla added that he looked forward to more space missions, and was keen to undertake a space walk, which will require him to "train for another two years".
