CJ Roy death: Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan seeks judicial probe; SIT probe will uncover truth, says Karnataka Home Minister

Bengaluru: Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan has urged finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman to order a judicial inquiry into the death of Confident Group founder CJ Roy (57), suggesting that it should be headed by a person who has had experience as a judge in a constitutional court.

Ordering such an impartial inquiry into this matter is essential if occurrence of such tragic incidents in future are to be prevented, the CM said in a two-page letter.

Roy hailed from Kerala, and his end came during an income tax search at his office in Bengaluru from a Kerala team of officials.


Vijayan pointed out procedural lapses by the income tax officials. “It is quite surprising that the person in whose premises, the income tax department was conducting a search and seizure operation, could proceed to lay hands on a loaded gun and shoot himself, when the tax department personnel were going with search operations,” he said in his letter.

The Kerala CM, in his letter, said the death had caused `deep sorrow and shock’ among the people in Kerala, while calling the death as a “blot on the tax administration of the country.” Vijayan expressed his surprise that Roy could access his licensed firearm and shoot himself while the I-T search was still underway, while highlighting serious procedural lapses.

The state government formed a special investigation team (SIT) to thoroughly investigate the alleged suicide of Roy and end speculations over his death, home minister G Parameshwara said on Monday.

The SIT probe will reveal details, he said, answering queries from the media.

Venture capitalist TV Mohandas Pai has also called for a transparent probe into Roy’s death. “We lost Siddarth founder of Coffee Day, to reported tax terrorism. Too many people are terrified by tax officials- an assault on citizen rights-No way to govern our country.” He also urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “The whole raid process is very brutal. Our FM has been giving such officials more and more powers but where is citizens protection? Are officials punished for a wrong raid? No,” he said in a recent post on X.