A harrowing ordeal unfolded in Mumbai’s Powai on Thursday when 17 children, aged between 12 and 15, were held hostage for three-and-a-half hours at a studio under the pretense of an audition. The crisis, which involved a man armed with an airgun and an inflammable spray, ended tragically with the death of the hostage-taker in a police operation.
The 50-year-old man, identified as Rohit Arya from Pune, was shot dead by police during a massive joint rescue launched by the Mumbai Police and the Fire Brigade.
The Hostage-Taker’s Motive and Demands
Rohit Arya had rented the studio space at Mahavir Classic, a commercial-cum-residential building, just four days prior. While holding the children hostage, he released a video message in an eerily calm tone, outlining his simple but desperate demands.
Arya made it clear he had no intention to hurt the children and was not a terrorist, nor did he have “immoral” or “monetary” demands, despite carrying an airgun and inflammable spray. His sole stated goal was to use the situation to force a conversation with certain people to help him recover an alleged ₹2 crore that he claimed the Maharashtra education department owed him.
He warned the police that “a slightest wrong move on their part will trigger me to kill the children,” stating he was only looking for simple answers to his questions about the payment.
How the Hostage Situation Unfolded
The incident began in the morning when the children, accompanied by their parents, arrived at Arya’s studio for what they believed was an audition.
Morning Routine: The parents waited outside the theatre in the Powai building as the children entered the hall, along with two female and one young male assistant.
Growing Anxiety (8:00 am – 1:00 pm): Anxiety set in among the parents when, even by 1 pm, the children had not emerged for lunch, and the parents were unable to access the locked theater. Arya had allegedly installed theft sensors on the doors to alert him if anyone attempted to enter.
Distress Call (1:45 pm): The crisis was revealed when people in an adjacent building noticed some of the children crying and pleading for help from behind the closed glass windows of the studio. Local police were alerted at 1:45 pm.
Rescue Operation (2:00 pm – 5:15 pm): Police arrived at the scene at 2 pm and initiated negotiations with Arya. Simultaneously, two tactical teams, aided by the fire brigade, launched a daring physical rescue. One team climbed up the building’s duct line and breached the hall through a first-floor bathroom. The other team cut the glass wall to enter the hall from the other side.
Standoff Ends (5:15 pm): The standoff concluded when Amol Waghmare of the Powai police station’s anti-terrorist cell entered the hall and fired a round at Rohit Arya, hitting him in the chest. Arya was rushed to the hospital but was declared dead. All children were safely rescued.
Profile of Rohit Arya
Rohit Arya was a short-film maker who was married but had no children of his own. His claims stemmed from his work as the Project Director for Project Let’s Change – PLA Swachhta Monitor, a school cleanliness awareness campaign adopted in 2022 by the state government’s Primary Education Department under the Majhi Shala, Sundar Shala initiative.
Political Links: Arya had worked on these school cleanliness campaigns during Eknath Shinde’s time as Chief Minister and alongside former education minister Deepak Kesarkar, a Shiv Sena lawmaker. Kesarkar had initially asked Arya to run the cleanliness awareness program on a pilot basis and had even personally given him some money when Arya first complained about non-payment.
Dispute over Payment: Arya’s persistent demand for payment was allegedly ignored, leading him to sit on protests twice outside Kesarkar’s official bungalow (July and August 2024) and later at Azad Maidan (October 2024). He claimed the education department used his films without paying or giving him credit.
Government’s Counter-Claim: The state education department countered these claims, stating that Arya never submitted any proper bills and repeatedly inflated his requests for payment.
Personal Struggles: Arya’s wife, Anjali Arya, had previously told the media that her husband had been struggling greatly to receive the sanctioned payment for his project. During a previous protest in Pune, he reportedly suffered an epileptic seizure and required hospitalization.