3-hour standoff, 17 children, ₹2 crore 'debt': Blow-by-blow account of Mumbai hostage crisis

The drama started when police received a call that a person called Rohit Arya has taken 17 children hostage. Here's a blow-by-blow account of what followed

For nearly three hours on Thursday afternoon, Mumbai witnessed one of its most nerve-wracking hostage crises in recent memory - a standoff involving 17 children held captive inside a studio in Powai by a man armed with an airgun and a flammable spray. The ordeal ended dramatically with a police rescue operation that left the captor, identified as 50-year-old Rohit Arya from Pune, dead from a bullet injury.

Mumbai on Thursday witnessed a tense three-hour hostage drama in Powai, where police rescued 17 children after shooting dead the captor during the operation.(Satish Bate/HT Photos)

According to police, the incident began around 1.30 pm when the Powai police station received a distress call about children being held hostage at RA Studio in Mahavir Classic, a commercial-cum-residential complex.

Arya, who had rented the studio just four days earlier under the pretext of conducting auditions for a web series, had called in the children, boys and girls aged between 10 and 15 - for what appeared to be a routine acting test.

By 1 pm, parents waiting outside grew anxious as none of the children emerged even for lunch. Residents in a neighbouring building soon noticed some of the children crying and pleading for help through the glass windows and raised the alarm. Police teams, along with the Quick Response Team, bomb squad, and Fire Brigade, rushed to the scene.

Mumbai hostage crisis: Timeline of events

• 1.30 pm: Powai police receive a distress call about children being held hostage at RA Studio in Mahavir Classic building.
• 1.45 pm: Quick Response Team, bomb squad and fire brigade rush to the scene; negotiations begin with the captor, identified as Rohit Arya, 50.
• 2.15 pm: Arya releases a video claiming he held the children to seek ₹2 crore allegedly owed to him by the Maharashtra education department.
• 2.45 pm: Police spot children crying from behind glass windows; Arya refuses to surrender and threatens to set the place ablaze.
• 3.15 pm: Two police teams climb the building’s duct line with fire brigade assistance; one cuts through the glass wall, another enters via a bathroom vent.
• 4.30 pm: Arya refuses final appeals to surrender; police fire a single round, injuring him in the chest.
• 4.45 pm: Children rescued safely; Arya declared dead at Hindu Hridaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Hospital.

A child seen in a bus after being rescued from the hostage situation in Mumbai's Powai.(Satish Bate/HT)

Police release blow-by-blow account

As shown in the police’s step-by-step reconstruction of events, officers first attempted to negotiate with Arya, who had barricaded himself inside and fitted sensors to alert him to any break-in attempts. He threatened to set the studio ablaze if police stormed in.

During the negotiations, Arya released a video statement, speaking in an eerily calm voice. “I am not a terrorist… I don’t have any immoral demands,” he said. “Instead of dying by suicide, I have made some plans and taken these children hostage so that I can get answers from some people.”

In the video, Arya claimed the Maharashtra education department owed him ₹2 crore for short films and cleanliness campaigns he had produced under the government’s Majhi Shala, Sundar Shala initiative.

Arya, who had previously worked on state projects during Eknath Shinde’s tenure as chief minister, alleged that despite repeated promises, he had not been paid.

Police sources told HT Arya had previously staged protests outside former education minister Deepak Kesarkar’s bungalow and later at Azad Maidan over the payment issue. He had also suffered an epileptic seizure during one such protest in Pune last year.

As hours passed, officers tried to keep Arya engaged while two police teams quietly made their way through the building’s duct line with fire brigade assistance. One team cut through a glass wall while the other entered via a bathroom vent.

Mumbai Police personnel at the site where 19 persons including 17 children were rescued from a studio in Powai area after a man held them hostage (PTI)

When Arya refused to surrender and threatened to harm the children, police opened fire to neutralise him.

Amol Waghmare, an officer from the anti-terrorist cell of Powai police station, fired a single shot that hit Arya in the chest. He was taken to Hindu Hridaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Hospital, where he was declared dead.

All 17 children and two adults were rescued safely and taken to Seven Hills Hospital for medical check-ups before being discharged later in the evening.

A senior police officer described the operation as “swift but delicate,” crediting the rescue teams for ensuring no civilian casualties.

“It was a tense three-hour operation where every second mattered,” said the officer. “Our top priority was to ensure the safety of the children, and we managed to bring them out unharmed.”

(with inputs from Vinay Dalvi, Nadeem Inamdar, Yogesh Naik and Saurabha Kulshreshtha)

Google Trends

Search Term 'Rohit Arya'(Google Trends)

According to Google Trends, the search term “Rohit Arya” witnessed a sharp spike on Friday, reaching peak popularity. The highest number of searches originated from Maharashtra, followed by Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Goa, Delhi, and Nagaland. Among the related trending queries were “Rohit Arya news,” “Who is Rohit Arya,” “Hostage,” “Rohit Arya Powai,” and “Powai,” all of which showed breakout growth in search volume.