Mumbai : A tense hostage crisis unfolded in broad daylight on Thursday at a Mumbai acting studio, triggering a massive police response. Witnesses reported seeing children peeking out through the studio’s glass windows as they were confined by the suspect, Rohit Arya. Arya is an employee at the studio and also runs a YouTube channel.
The incident began during, what eyewitnesses said, was an acting audition. For days, Arya had reportedly been conducting auditions, drawing in families. Parents would bring their kids, thinking this could help them get roles in films in the future, an eyewitness said. The auditions ran from 10 am to 8 pm every day.
Arya allegedly allowed around 80 children to leave but confine 17 children, along with a senior citizen and another civilian. The situation escalated when Arya released a video message, insisting his demands were not financial but moral and ethical. He warned authorities not to provoke him. He then issued a chilling threat: “A slightest wrong move from your end will trigger me to set this entire place on fire and die in it… Please do not trigger me to do any harm to anybody.”
Air guns and chemicals were recovered at the scene. The children, boys and girls around 15 years old, were handed over to their guardians. All the children are safe, we have met them,” the eyewitness confirmed. “They are fine, though they were quite scared. The Mumbai Police treated the children very well.
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