Mumbai: Rohit Arya, the man who allegedly held 17 children hostage in a building in Mumbai’s Powai Thursday, has died in a hospital.
According to the police, Arya was injured during the rescue operation, was immediately rushed to the hospital, and later declared dead. Reports say he sustained injuries in an exchange of gunfire with the police.
Seventeen children and a senior citizen were held hostage, allegedly by Arya, at a studio in Powai’s Mahavir Classic building in broad daylight, triggering panic. The tense situation ended with quick action by the police and fire brigade personnel, who rescued all the children.
“All the children are safe and handed to their guardians. Other details will be shared after due verification,” said Mumbai Police Joint Commissioner (Law & Order) Satya Choudhary.
A senior police officer told the media that at 1.45 pm, Powai police station received a distress call that an individual had taken children hostage. The kids had seemingly been called for an audition for a web series.
“Our Quick Response Team (QRT) and police units rushed to the spot. Initially we tried to negotiate with him. But it was not yielding any results. Then one of our Powai police inspectors, with another civilian, forcibly entered through the bathroom and rescued all the children,” he said.
“The motive is still unclear. We will investigate. These children came for a web series audition. This was a challenging operation. We were trying to negotiate but nothing was happening. Plus there were small children inside so we had to be careful. They were kept in a hall at that studio,” another police officer said.
According to preliminary information, the accused had been conducting auditions for children for the past few days.
Police are searching the spot. Prime facie, an air gun and chemicals have been seen.
This is a developing story.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)