A man identified as Rohit Arya allegedly held several children hostage in Mumbai’s Powai area on Thursday after posting a video demanding to speak with certain people and threatening to set everything alight and harm himself and the children if he was not allowed to do so.
Police have rescued more than 20 children who were held hostage inside a flat in Mumbai’s Powai area. The suspect, identified as Rohit Arya, has been arrested, officials said.d. Officers are currently questioning him to ascertain the reason behind his actions and to determine whether he is mentally unstable.
“A man, identified as Rohit Arya, had held a few children hostage in the Powai area of Mumbai. He released a video purportedly saying that he wants to speak with a few people and that if he is not allowed to do so he will set everything on fire and harm himself and the children. The man seems to be mentally unstable and police are trying to handle the matter, ” Mumbai Police said in a statement.
The situation was handled by Mumbai Police and all children have since been safely rescued.
The accused, identified as Rohit Arya, had allegedly set up a fake web series audition in Mumbai’s Powai area, inviting around 100 students to participate. After the audition, he allowed 83 students to leave but held 17 others hostage along with two individuals. The hostages were confined to the ground and first floors of a studio in Powai.
Police received information about the hostage situation around 1:45 p.m. and rushed to the spot. Initial attempts to negotiate with the accused failed, prompting the police to storm the premises. Officers entered the studio through a bathroom and eventually shot the accused before safely rescuing all the children.
An air gun and certain chemicals were recovered from the scene, and samples have been sent to the forensic department for examination.
Before being apprehended, Arya recorded a video stating his intentions and demands. In the video, he said:
“I am Rohit Arya, and instead of dying by suicide, I have made a plan and I am holding some children hostage here. I don’t have many demands; I have very simple demands, moral demands, ethical demands, and a few questions. I want to talk to some people, ask them questions. But I want these answers. I don’t want anything else. I’m not a terrorist, nor do I demand a lot of money, and I certainly don’t want anything immoral.”
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