Mumbai police launched a daring mission to rescue 17 children and two others, who were allegedly kidnapped and held hostage by Rohit Arya in Powai.
Mumbai police launched a daring rescue mission after a man, identified as Rohit Arya, allegedly kidnapped 17 children and two others, and held them hostage inside a studio in Powai for six days. The police barged into the studio and rescued all the children, while Arya was shot and later pronounced dead.
The accused also released a video saying that he wanted to speak to some people, and threatened to set the entire place ablaze if his demands were not met. Police received a call about the incident at 1:45 pm and attempted to negotiate with the alleged kidnapper.
When talks failed, police entered the studio forcefully from the bathroom. Arya opened fire on the police personnel using children as human shields, but was injured in retaliatory firing and was admitted to the hospital, where he was later declared dead. Police officers said the kidnapper appeared mentally unstable.
Who Was Rohit Arya?
Arya was a YouTuber and school teacher from Nagpur. He was originally from Pune. He had secured a tender for a school project linked to the education department during the tenure of then Education Minister Deepak Kesarkar, according to India Today.
He later staged several protest marches against Kesarkar, accusing the state government of withholding his funds in the Education Department.
The accused was also an employee at RA Studios, and set up a fake web series audition and invited 100 students. He let 83 students go and kept 17 as hostages with two other people. He kept them on the ground floor and first floor of the studio in Powai.
In a video released after he kidnapped the children, Arya also claimed that he simply wants to speak with certain people and has “moral demands” without specifying what they are. “I’m not a terrorist, nor do I demand a lot of money, and I certainly don’t want anything immoral,” he said.
