Confident Group Chairman CJ Roy Found Dead After Apparent Suicide at Bengaluru Office
Confident Group chairman Roy Chiriankandath Joseph, popularly known as C J Roy, died after allegedly shooting himself at his Langford Road office in Bengaluru on Friday. According to sources, Income Tax officials were at his office premises when the incident took place.
The incident occurred in the afternoon at the office-cum-bungalow, with a senior police officer saying Roy allegedly used a pistol he had in his possession. He was rushed to a private hospital and then to Narayana Hospital, where he was declared dead on arrival.
A senior tax official told The Indian Express that Roy had given a statement to the Income Tax Department on Thursday. His death came a day later, while tax officials were on his premises. “Income Tax officials were on another floor, where they were operating a prohibitory order. Roy was on a different floor when the incident happened. I-T officers immediately called off the operations after the incident,” the tax official said.
Under the search and seizure provisions of the Income Tax Act, Section 132(3) empowers officials to issue a prohibitory order when it is not practical to immediately seize items such as books of account, other documents, money, bullion, jewellery, or other valuable articles. Such a prohibitory order prevents the owner of these items from removing or dealing with them without permission from the authorised officer.
Running one of Kerala’s leading real estate firms that spanned India and beyond, Roy was known for making projects without availing bank loans — or a zero-debt business, as he called it. On the Confident Group website is a message from Roy, which sums up the firm’s scale: “We are a 19-year-old conglomerate with multiple business activities spread across India, UAE, and USA. We also have the pride of designing and delivering multiple well-appreciated real estate projects and products across Bangalore, Kerala, and Dubai.”
“We are proud to say that none of our 159 projects has been stalled due to any reasons — from the organisation or property titles or governmental issues,” the message reads. “We have also achieved CRISIL 7 Star rating for a few of our projects.”
According to the Kerala Real Estate Regulatory Authority, the company had 20 projects in progress at various locations in the state, including Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Kozhikode, Malappuram, and Thrissur. At the time of his death, he was a director in eight companies with interests in real estate, entertainment, aviation, construction, and personal care. The Confident Group, established 20 years ago, has executed 210 projects, records show.
Roy has also produced several films, salvaging projects that were facing a crisis, and sponsored TV shows. His first production was Casanova, a big-budget Malayalam film from 2012. In 2021, he was part of the production of Mohanlal-starrer Marakkar: Lion of the Arabian Sea. Last year, he produced Tovino Thomas-starrer Identity.
He was known as much for his luxury cars as he was for his social welfare activities. In an interview published a month ago on a Malayalam-language web portal, Editoreal, Roy said, “For me, life is a celebration. Every day, I enjoy my life. I go to bed only after 12. When I am flying, if the pilot says that the flight is going to crash, I will not cry. I will be happy. I have nothing left on my list of dreams.”
