Rohit Arya, the man who held 17 children hostage at RA Studio in Mumbai’s Powai, was shot dead by the Mumbai police during a rescue operation on Thursday.
Hours before Rohit Arya’s arrest, the Mumbai police announced that all the children had been rescued.
What happened in Mumbai?
On Thursday afternoon, police received a call about a man holding children hostage inside the RA Studio in the Mahavir Classic building at about 1:45 p.m., Deputy Commissioner of Police Datta Nalawade said.
The man was later identified as Rohit Arya. According to ANI, he held as many as 19 people including 17 children hostage.
The children, boys and girls around the age of 15, were invited to an “audition”, according to preliminary information.
Before the rescue operation, Arya posted a video on social media saying he wanted to talk to a few people and ask them questions, and he didn’t want money. He allegedly threatened to set fire to the studio if he was not allowed to do so.
Arya also had an air gun and some chemicals, according to the DCP handling the case.
Who was Rohit Arya?
Mumbai police officials are currently probing Rohit Arya’s background, DCP Nalwade told PTI.
Initially, the police tried to negotiate with Arya during the rescue operation, but as the talks did not lead to any progress – the police team entered the studio through the bathroom and overpowered him with the help of another person who was inside – the DCP told reporters.
“It was a difficult operation as we negotiated with him without a positive result… Our priority was to save the lives of the children,” Nalawade said, adding that further investigations were underway.
‘Simple…’: Why did Arya hold children hostage?
Rohit Arya claimed in his video that he wanted “simple talks” and chose hostage-taking “instead of death by suicide”.
According to an NDTV report, Rohit Arya claimed that he did not receive payment for a sanitation campaign called PLC Sanitation Monitor Project launched under the Chief Minister’s My School, Beautiful School campaign.
He allegedly claimed that the ministry had sanctioned ₹2 million for his work but has not paid him since January 2024.
Rohit Arya even claimed that then Education Minister Deepak Kesarkar allegedly gave him two checks – one ₹7 million and more ₹8 lakhs as personal assistance, later promising more – something Arya claimed was never fulfilled.
