Mumbai hostage-taker’s high-tech trap: Motion sensors, cameras, and a failed face-off with police News Air Insight

For nearly three hours on a tense Thursday afternoon in Mumbai, a 50-year-old man identified as Rohit Arya managed to keep the police at bay while keeping 17 children hostage inside a Powai studio. Though he failed miserably when the bullet from officer Amol Waghmare’s gun hit him in the chest, the stunt that he pulled off had been meticulously planned days in advance.

A police reconstruction of events revealed that Arya had precisely planned the hostage situation, installing motion sensors and other devices in the studio before he invited boys and girls aged between 10 and 15 years for a fake audition.

Arya, who had rented the studio four days earlier under the pretext of holding a routine acting test for a web series, was armed with an airgun and a flammable spray.

However, by 1 pm, anxious parents waiting outside had already begun to worry when none of the children returned for lunch. Moments later, residents in an adjacent building noticed some of the children crying and pleading for help through the glass windows and immediately raised an alarm.

Within minutes, multiple police teams, including the Quick Response Team (QRT), bomb squad, and fire brigade, rushed to the scene to begin rescue operation that would go on for nearly three and a half hours.

A police official, according to an Indian Express report, said that Arya had been preparing for the incident for several days, setting up and testing motion sensors inside the studio from Monday onward.

Also Read | ‘Unpaid’ dues, Swachhata Monitor project: Story behind Rohit Arya, the Mumbai hostage-taker

“We found that he had installed motion sensors in the past few days when the ‘auditions’ were being held, as he was preparing for Thursday,” the officer said, adding that Arya had even connected the devices to a mobile phone that would alert him to any movement. This made it nearly impossible for rescuers to approach the building from the front.

However, the English daily reported that Arya was unaware of a rear entry, which eventually allowed the officers to make their breakthrough.

One team cut through a glass wall, while another entered via a bathroom vent, exploiting a back entry that Arya was unaware of.

Also Read | Maharashtra govt reacts to Mumbai hostage accused Rohit Arya’s claim: ‘Pay demand without documentation’

A senior officer described the operation as “swift but delicate,” crediting the team for ensuring that all hostages were rescued unharmed. “It was a tense three-hour operation where every second mattered. Our top priority was to ensure the safety of the children, and we managed to bring them out unharmed,” he said.

When Arya refused to surrender and threatened to harm the children, the situation reached a breaking point. Amol Waghmare, an officer from the anti-terrorist cell of Powai police station, fired a single shot that hit Arya in the chest.

While negotiations were underway, Arya released a video message, speaking in a calm tone and asserting that he was not a criminal.

“I am not a terrorist… I don’t have any immoral demands,” Arya said in the clip. “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 same video, he alleged that the Maharashtra education department owed him ₹2 crore for producing short films and cleanliness campaigns under the Majhi Shala, Sundar Shala initiative.

Arya, who had worked on government projects during Eknath Shinde’s tenure as chief minister, claimed he had not been paid despite repeated assurances.

Police sources told Hindustan Times that Arya had earlier staged protests outside the bungalow of former education minister Deepak Kesarkar and later at Azad Maidan, demanding the pending payment. He had also suffered an epileptic seizure during one such protest in Pune last year.

He was rushed to Hindu Hridaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Hospital, where doctors declared him dead.

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