On day of top cop Himanshu Roy's suicide, 2 men he booked get life term

Mumbai: In a case supervised by late Himanshu Roy as Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) in Mumbai, two accused were sentenced to life imprisonment on the day Roy ended his life.

A sessions court in Mumbai on Saturday awarded life imprisonment to two persons in the 2012 murder case of actor Meenakshi Thapa. It awarded the sentence to Amit Jaiswal, 36 and his girlfriend Preeti Surin, 26.

"Jaiswal and Surin, hailing from Uttar Pradesh, had befriended Thapa, 26 on the sets of 'Heroine', a Bollywood film directed by Madhur Bhandarkar.

Both the accused used to work as model coordinators.

Under the impression that the actor belonged to a rich family, the duo hatched a conspiracy to abduct her and demand Rs 15 lakh ransom from her family.

They persuaded the actor, who had moved to Mumbai from Dehradun, to accompany them to Uttar Pradesh on March 12, 2012, stating that there was an acting assignment for her.

Subsequently, they had abducted her, but after realising that her family was in no position to pay up, they strangulated her, according to the prosecution.

"Himanshu Roy was the Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) when Thapa was murdered. As it was a sensitive case, he played a key role in getting it transferred to the Crime Branch and was instrumental in solving it," a crime branch official said.

Roy committed suicide by shooting himself at his south Mumbai residence, police said.

Mumbai police, citing his suicide note, said the 1988-batch Indian Police Service officer took the extreme step "out of frustration" due to his prolonged battle with cancer.

"Roy was on medical leave for the last two years as he had cancer and the suicide note, in his own handwriting makes it clear that he ended his life out of frustration due to this illness," a police statement said.

Roy, who is survived by his mother and wife, would have been 55 next month.

Roy shot himself with a licensed revolver at his home in Nariman Point at 12.40 pm and was rushed to Bombay Hospital where he was declared dead at 1.40 pm, an official said.