MUMBAI: A 45-year-old social entrepreneur who ran a project for the state govt held 17 children, aged 12-15, a 75-year-old woman and his staffer hostage for three hours at a recording studio in Powai Thursday afternoon after calling them for auditions for a web series.
The crisis ended after a police commando team stormed the studio following failed negotiations. Police said they shot him in the chest in self-defence after he fired from an air gun. He was declared dead in hospital.
Read also | Who was captor Rohit Aarrya? Man behind Mumbai hostage scare sat on hunger strike over Rs 2 crore govt duesPolice said Aarrya owned a company, Apsara Media, that directed awareness videos on social causes and had extensively worked with children.
They said he had been holding auditions at RA Studio in Powai for the past five days for a web series he was planning. Thursday was the final casting call.
Auditions began at 10am and the children—hailing from Navi Mumbai, Kolhapur, Satara, Sangli and other parts of the state—arrived earlier, said a security guard at Mahavir Classik, which housed the studio.
The hostage drama played out after the captor, Rohit Aarrya, who had been living in a relative’s Chembur flat for the past few days, released a video saying he wanted “simple answers” to some questions and threatened to set the place ablaze if there was any move made to challenge him.
In the clip, which was circulated to many media outlets, he said he was not a terrorist and only wanted “to be heard”. “Instead of dying by suicide, I have held some children hostage,” he said.
The captor, Rohit Aarrya , was a social entrepreneur and project management consultant who owned a company, Apsara Media, that directed awareness videos on social causes.
His social media profile showed he was an alumnus of Symbiosis International University, Pune, and had completed an executive MBA from ISB, Mumbai.
He had worked extensively with children on the central govt’s Swacchh Bharat initiative, saying he was inspired by PM Narendra Modi’s plan for cleanliness in public spaces.
Since 2017, Aarrya had engaged actors, including Prem Chopra, to enact short videos to generate awareness. He claimed actor Ramesh Deo as his mentor. His social media profiles contain pictures of ministers and a few celebrities.
Read also | 17 kids rescued from Powai's RA Studio; accused Rohit Arya shot deadHe said he had taken the children hostage “according to a plan”. “I really want to conduct the ‘Let’s Change’ programme. I am going to do it. If I am alive, then I will do it. If I die, then someone else will do it. But it will definitely happen,” he said.
His tone then turned menacing. “It will happen with these kids only if they are not harmed. Because the slightest wrong move from your end will trigger me to set this place on fire and die in it.
Whether I die or not, the kids will definitely be unnecessarily hurt and traumatised. I don’t know what will happen to them. If something does happen to them, I should not be held responsible.
"Those persons should be held responsible who are triggering this unnecessarily, when a normal, common person just wants to talk. After my discussions are over, I will come out myself. I am not alone. I have more people with me. Many people have similar problems as mine. And I am going to give this solution only by talking. Please do not trigger me to do some harm to anybody.”
Police spent nearly two hours trying to negotiate with the captor, Rohit Aarrya, and gauge his demands, but he refused to cooperate, even after one of the girls’ parents said she suffered from seizures, cops said. An official said he appeared calm when police spoke to him.
City police chief Deven Bharti maintained that Aarrya fired first, prompting retaliatory police firing.
“Regardless of his demands, we couldn’t let him play with lives. Our team fired back in self-defence. There was no other option.”
Other officials reiterated that the safety of those held captive was the priority, adding that the team’s response was measured and as per the protocol. The death prompted calls by legal experts for a magisterial inquiry.