The case underlines urgent needs for safer audition practices, prompt grievance redressal and community vigilance. (Image: File)
Seventeen teenagers, aged 12–15, were rescued after a tense three-and-a-half-hour siege at RA Studio in the Mahavir Classic building, Powai, on Thursday afternoon. Neighbours alerted police after spotting children crying and pleading behind the studio’s glass windows. The rescue ended when a Mumbai police officer fired at the lone hostage-taker; he was later declared dead at a hospital.
Police identified the man as 50-year-old Rohit Arya, a Pune resident who had recently moved to his sister’s apartment in Chembur and rented the studio four days earlier, reportedly to audition children for a web series. Arya ran short video projects and had earlier led a government-linked cleanliness project; he was known to protest over unpaid dues. Investigations are ongoing into his background and mental health history.
Also Read: After Failed Talks, Pakistan and Afghanistan Recommit to Ceasefire Under Turkish Mediation
Seventeen children arrived for auditions at around 8 am with their parents; adults were asked to wait downstairs while Arya took the children to the first-floor theatre. By lunchtime no one emerged, and panic grew when parents could not access the hall. Neighbours saw distress signals at about 1.45 pm and called police; Arya had locked the doors, set up alarms, and threatened to use an inflammable spray and a firearm.
In a chilling, calm video released online, Arya said he did not want to hurt the children but wanted “answers” from specific people over an alleged unpaid ₹2 crore from the state education department. He insisted his demands were “simple, moral and ethical,” and warned that any “wrong move” by police could lead to violence. Officials say the weapon he brandished was an air gun.
Also Read: ‘We Did It Our Way’: Xi Counters Trump’s Claim of Being the Lone Peacemaker
Mumbai police, supported by a bomb disposal squad, the fire brigade and a Quick Response Team, tried negotiations while planning entry. Two police teams entered simultaneously — one through a bathroom route and another by cutting the glass wall — to reach the children. An anti-terror unit officer who entered from the bathroom fired one shot that hit the accused; he was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead. All rescued children were checked at Seven Hills Hospital and later discharged.
