Mumbai Hostage Crisis: How 17 Kids were Lured into a Fake Audition Trap

On October 30, 2025, what began as an exciting opportunity for aspiring young actors turned into a harrowing ordeal in Mumbai's bustling Powai neighborhood. Seventeen children, aged between 10 and 15, along with two adults, were lured to RA Studio in the Mahavir Classik building under the guise of auditions for a web series. The studio, rented just four days prior by 50-year-old Rohit Arya—a Pune-based social media channel owner and self-proclaimed educational consultant—became a fortress of fear. Arya, who had been conducting auditions for several days and screened about 100 children that morning, abruptly locked the group inside a room around 1:45 PM, igniting a two-hour crisis that gripped the city.

Arya's motives unraveled a tale of profound desperation and alleged betrayal by the Maharashtra government. In a chilling video circulated online, the eerily composed captor identified himself as Rohit Arya and demanded an audience with high-ranking officials, including Education Minister Deepak Kesarkar, to discuss ₹2 crore in unpaid dues for educational projects like "Majhi Shala, Sundar Shala" (My School, Beautiful School) and "Swachhta Monitor" (Cleanliness Monitor).

Claiming he originated these initiatives—inspired by his film "Let’s Change"—Arya accused authorities of stealing his ideas, issuing bounced cheques worth ₹15 lakh, and denying him credit despite direct departmental payments. "Instead of suicide, I planned this to force a conversation," he warned in the footage, threatening to douse the studio in flames and harm everyone inside if his pleas were ignored. The Maharashtra Education Department, however, refuted his claims, stating no formal ₹2 crore agreement existed and that Arya had independently collected fees from participants, urging resolution through dialogue rather than violence.

As anxious parents waited outside since morning—growing frantic when the children skipped lunch—the alarm was raised by vigilant residents in an adjacent building who spotted the terrified kids crying and banging on sealed glass windows. Powai Police, alerted at 1:45 PM, swiftly mobilized a multi-agency response including a Quick Response Team (QRT), Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad, and fire brigade. Initial negotiations faltered as Arya, armed and unyielding, brandished an air gun to intimidate responders. With time ticking, two elite teams executed a high-stakes breach: one scaled the building's duct pipeline to slice through a glass wall, while the other infiltrated via a bathroom vent. In the ensuing chaos, officers fired a single warning shot that struck Arya in the chest when he lunged aggressively, refusing to drop his weapon. The children, huddled and unharmed, were evacuated amid screams and smoke from scattered chemicals.

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The dramatic rescue yielded damning evidence of Arya's incendiary plot. On Friday, October 31, Mumbai Police combed the scene, recovering a loaded air gun used to cow the hostages, containers of petrol, inflammable rubber solution, and a lighter—items primed for a catastrophic blaze. These were immediately dispatched to the forensics lab for analysis, bolstering suspicions of premeditated arson. Powai Police invoked Sections 109(1) (abetment), 140 (kidnapping), and 287 (public safety endangerment) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) 2023 against the now-deceased Arya. The investigation, transferred to the Crime Branch for deeper probes into his financial grievances and mental state, underscores a tragic intersection of unaddressed bureaucratic lapses and personal despair.

Rushed to Hindu Hridaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Hospital, Arya succumbed to his injuries en route, leaving behind a web of unanswered questions about systemic failures in Maharashtra's education sector. The rescued children, visibly shaken but physically safe, were reunited with their guardians, many of whom recounted the heart-stopping wait. This incident not only exposes vulnerabilities in informal audition setups but also reignites calls for mental health support and transparent grievance mechanisms for contractors. As the Crime Branch delves deeper, Mumbai mourns a preventable tragedy that turned dreams of stardom into a nightmare of survival.

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