Himanshu Roy, a Rajput-origin IPS officer of the 1988 Maharashtra cadre, is a
raconteur and an evasive one at that. Any question that he doesn't want
to answer will elicit a story, a joke, a one-liner from his repertoire,
and a particularly offensive question may even elicit five. The ploy is
to make the questioner forget.
Distraction
might just be his most potent weapon yet, but it's a tool he himself
wields well, fielding calls from the home ministry, inspectors who call
from court to affirm that custody has been granted, and those who bring
in codes, laws and statutes to verify what he can and cannot do, in due
process of the IPL case. The IPL case, he says, is an easier one than
most. "The toughest cases are those which are yet to be cracked. This
one is a flat case, it's just an issue of collecting evidence to support
the facts" is all he will give away, adding that there hasn't been
anything new that he hadn't expected to be revealed in the course of
investigation.
A 'Bombay' boy, ex-student of
Campion and St Xavier's College, Mumbai, Roy's father was a well known
Colaba doctor. Roy, an only child, did dabble briefly in medicine post
his 12th standard, after which he quit and went on to do CA.
Two
years in Arthur Anderson later, Roy decided he wanted to make a
difference and began to study towards his IPS examination. At the
examination hall in Mazgaon, in 1990, he ran into Bhavna, his future
wife, and author Amish Tripathi's sister, who was taking her IAS exam.
Two
years later, they were married and Himanshu's career took off. Bhavna
eventually quit the IAS, taking on work in HIV relief and other social
activities. Roy's first posting was in Malegaon in 1991, where he had to
handle the fallout of the post-Babri Masjid demolition riots.
His
career graph then on was meteoric: The youngest SP of Nasik (rural) in
1995, SP Ahmednagar, DCP Economic Offences Wing, DCP Traffic, DCP Zone
1, and Commissioner of Police, Nasik, 2004-2007, where he tackled
Khairlanji, came in quick succession. He was made Jt Commissioner of
Police Mumbai in 2009. He is 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.
By any means he remains an unconventional figure--over six ft tall,
with rippling muscles, a dramatic moustache and a Bachchan-worthy
baritone bordering on a bass, erudite inflection.
He
is a teetotaller with a penchant for Hindustani classical music. Roy's
detractors describe an almost megalomaniacal love of self, an obsession
with fitness and a charisma that has him 'in' with the jet set, from
Bollywood to the society, media, builder and political circles he grew
up in. He has alternately been held up as an icon of fitness,
inaugurating the Nitro gym with actor Arbaaz Khan in 2012, to a largely
unfit police force confused about what to make of his unconventional
stances.
Within the ranks, he is seen as connected, networked,
suave and bankable with a constant eye on procedure. "When sahab says
it will be done, it will be done.
Get in touch with me. It's important nikitadasgupta1@gmail.com
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