A man with an airgun and flammable spray kept 17 children and two adults hostage inside a studio in Powai for about three hours on Thursday afternoon, making it one of Mumbai's most tense hostage situations in recent memory. The captor, identified as 50-year-old Rohit Arya from Pune, was shot and killed during a police rescue operation, bringing the ordeal to a dramatic finale.
Police say the incident started at 1:30 pm when the Powai police station got a distress call about kids being kept captive at RA Studio, a commercial-cum-residential complex in Mahavir Classic.

Boys and girls between the ages of 10 and 15 were summoned in for what seemed to be a standard acting test by Arya, who had booked the studio just four days prior under the guise of holding auditions for a web series.
When none of the kids came out for lunch by 1 pm, parents who were waiting outside were nervous. Soon after, residents in a nearby building heard some of the kids sobbing and begging for assistance through the glass windows and sounded the alarm. Police units hurried to the location, followed by the Fire Brigade, Bomb Squad, and Quick Response Team.

Mumbai hostage situation timeline
1.30 pm: A distress call of youngsters being kept captive at RA Studio in the Mahavir Classic building is received by Powai police.
1.45 pm: The fire department, bomb squad, and Quick Response Team arrive on the site; talks with the 50-year-old kidnapper, Rohit Arya, start.

2.15 pm: Arya releases a video saying he held the children to obtain ₹2 crore purportedly owed to him by the Maharashtra education department.
2.45 pm: Arya refuses to give up and threatens to burn down the building when police see children sobbing behind glass windows.
3.15 p.m.: With the help of the fire department, two police squads scale the building's duct line; one penetrates through a bathroom vent, while the other breaks through the glass wall.

4.30 pm: After Arya rejects the last pleas to turn himself in, the cops shoot him once, wounding him in the chest.
4.45 pm: Arya is pronounced dead at Hindu Hridaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Hospital; children are safely removed.
Police give a detailed report.
According to the police's detailed account of what happened, they initially tried to talk to Arya, who had locked himself inside and installed sensors to warn him of any intruders. If cops rushed in, he threatened to burn the studio down.
Arya made a video statement during the discussions, speaking in a strangely composed tone. "My name is not terrorist. "I have no immoral demands," he declared. "I have plans and have taken these children hostage so that I can get answers from some people instead of dying by suicide."

In the video, Arya asserted that he was due ₹2 crore by the Maharashtra education department for short films and cleanliness campaigns he had created as part of the Majhi Shala, Sundar Shala program.
Arya, who had previously worked on government projects while Eknath Shinde was chief minister, claimed he had not received payment in spite of numerous assurances.
Police sources informed HT Arya had earlier organised protests outside former education minister Deepak Kesarkar’s residence and then at Azad Maidan over the payment problem. During one of these protests in Pune last year, he also experienced an epileptic episode.
Officers worked for hours to keep Arya interested as two police teams, aided by the fire department, moved stealthily through the building's duct line.

Police used gunfire to neutralise Arya after he refused to give up and threatened to hurt the kids.
Arya was struck in the chest by a single bullet fired by Amol Waghmare, an officer from the Powai police station's anti-terrorist cell. After being brought to the Hindu Hridaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Hospital, he was pronounced deceased.
After being safely rescued, the two parents and all 17 children were transferred to Seven Hills Hospital for examinations before being released later that night.
A senior police officer praised the rescue teams for preventing civilian casualties and characterised the operation as "swift but delicate."
The officer described the three-hour operation as harrowing, with every second counting.