Government denial, personal despair: What triggered the Mumbai hostage standoff?

The Maharashtra government has denied claims by filmmaker Rohit Arya — who held 19 people, including 17 children, hostage at a film studio in Mumbai’s Powai on Thursday — that he was owed Rs20 million for an urban sanitation and cleanliness project. Arya was shot and killed during a police rescue operation after the two-hour standoff.

Arya, founder of Apsara Media Entertainment Network, had alleged in a video released before the hostage drama that the state owed him money for Project Let’s Change, an urban cleanliness drive implemented in partnership with the Education Department in 2022 and 2023. He said he wanted “simple, moral and ethical” answers, though he did not specify his demands.

Hours after the standoff ended, the state Education Department confirmed that Arya and his company were associated with the initiative, under which 5.9 million students were deputed as swachhata (cleanliness) monitors, NDTV reported. A government order dated June 30, 2023, had approved Rs990,000 for the project’s first phase, while the second phase under the Mukhyamantri Majhi Shala Sundar Shala programme set aside Rs206.3 million - including Rs20 million meant for the monitors.

However, the department said Arya’s project documents were “incomplete” and contained “inflated costs” for advertising, manpower, and technical support. “Due to these technical gaps, the scheme could not be implemented,” the statement said.

According to Education Minister Dadaji Bhuse, Arya was also found to be collecting “registration fees” from schools participating in the campaign, which was against government rules. “No such procedures appear to have been implemented in this case... the private media firm collected money from schools, which is not permissible,” Bhuse said.

In August last year, Arya was directed to deposit the collected funds into a government account and submit an affidavit promising not to charge schools again. He failed to do so, and the proposal to renew the initiative was dropped after the new government under Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis took office.

Arya had long claimed that Rs20 million remained unpaid under a school cleanliness project called Swachhta Monitor, awarded when Deepak Kesarkar was the School Education Minister. He reportedly sought to “draw the attention of influential government officials” to his dues.

During Thursday’s hostage crisis at RA Studio, Arya released a video declaring, “I am not a terrorist… neither am I seeking money. I wish to talk to some people.” He claimed he had been driven to suicide but instead wanted to “reach out” through the “hostage plan.”

Police said Arya, who worked at the studio, was armed with an air gun, chemicals, and a lighter, and had threatened to set the building on fire if his demands were not met. After he opened fire, a Quick Reaction Team stormed the premises through a toilet window, rescuing all 19 hostages. Arya was shot during the operation and later died in hospital.

Kesarkar told reporters that Arya had been given a contract under the Mera School Ek Sunder School Hai campaign but “indulged in direct monetary dealings.” He said, “He should have spoken to the department… Holding people hostage is not a solution.”

Arya’s wife, Anjali Arya, told reporters her husband had fought for both the promised Rs20 million and “recognition for his work.”

- with inputs from IANS