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Rohit Arya, the man who was shot dead by Mumbai police after he took 17 children hostage at an audition theatre in Powai on Thursday, said in his last video that he was committing the act over payment of “dues” from the government – a claim denied by the Maharashtra school education department.
Rohit Arya, carrying an airgun and an inflammable spray, held 17 children hostage at the theatre where they had reportedly been called for an ‘audition’ on Thursday. Police rescued the children and shot the accused dead following a 3.5-hour-long rescue operation.
While he held the children at RA Studio at Mahavir Classic, a commercial-cum-residential building in Powai, he recorded a video and claimed that hurting the children was not his intention. Rather, Arya said, he just wanted to speak to certain people to recover a due of ₹2 crore that the Maharashtra education department owed him.
In the video, he said that his demands were “simple and moral and ethical”, adding that “I am not a terrorist and do not have any monetary demands, and my demands are not immoral at all”.
What are these “dues”?
Shiv Sena leader Deepak Kesarkar said on Thursday that during his tenure as state education minister from 2022 to 2024 he had asked Rohit Arya to carry out a cleanliness awareness programme, Swachhata Monitor, on a pilot basis. He had also personally given some money to Arya last year after he complained that the education department was withholding the money owed to him.
Arya had served as Project Director for Project Let’s Change – PLA Swachhata Monitor, which the state government’s Primary Education department adopted in 2022 under the Majhi Shala, Sundar Shala initiative.
A police officer told the media that in July and August 2024, and in October 2024, Arya sat on protests outside Deepak Kesarkar’s official bungalow and the Azad Maidan, claiming that the education department used his short films and documentaries highlighting the significance of cleanliness, but failed to give him any credit or payment for the work.
What the govt says?
In response to Arya’s claim, the Maharashtra government’s school education department issued a statement on Thursday regarding the controversy over unpaid dues to the accused, a filmmaker and activist. It said that Arya did not back the claim for his ‘dues’ with relevant documents.
The department cited data and claimed that Arya charged registration fees from several schools for participation in Swachhata Monitor 2024-25, a cleanliness drive in schools. Additionally, the budget he submitted for the drive was vague and lacked proper documentation.
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