- By Priyanka Koul
- Fri, 31 Oct 2025 05:39 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
Mumbai Hostage Incident: The shocking incident in Mumbai’s Powai area, where a 50-year-old man named Rohit Arya held 17 children hostage, has raised troubling questions about a supposed Rs 2.4 crore payment he claimed was owed to him by the Maharashtra government. As new details emerge, the picture surrounding his financial grievances and government dealings appears far more complex than his viral video suggested.
On Thursday, panic spread across Mumbai when Rohit Arya barricaded himself with several children inside a local facility, threatening to set the place ablaze unless his demands were met. In a video released during the siege, Arya insisted that the government owed him Rs 2 crore for his work on an urban cleanliness campaign. To which the Maharashtra government has completely denied Rohit Arya’s claims that he was owed more than Rs 2 crore for his work under an urban sanitation and cleanliness campaign.
Rohit Arya was declared dead after being taken to HBT Hospital, police said on Thursday.
Hostages, Video And More
Rohit Arya had released a video claiming that he wanted to speak with certain people and had threatened to set everything on fire and harm himself, along with the children, if his demand was not met.
To obtain this money, Rohit Arya allegedly staged a fake audition drama and then took 17 innocent children hostage. In the video he demanded a response to his “requests”, but the video gave no specific details about what those demands were.
He claimed that the government owed him Rs 2 crore. However, the School Education Department cited entirely different figures.
Following the rescue operation, the Maharashtra Education Department confirmed that Arya and his company, Apsara Media, had been contracted in 2022 and 2023 to run Project Let’s Change, a campaign designed to promote cleanliness and urban hygiene among school students. Under this initiative, nearly 5.9 million pupils were appointed as “cleanliness monitors”.
According to official records, Arya’s firm was first approved to conduct the project through a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) partnership outlined in a government letter dated 27 September 2022. The project received a second approval on 30 June 2023, with a sanctioned payment of Rs 9.9 lakh.
However, Arya later demanded that the scheme be revived and sought an additional Rs 2.42 crore, claiming this was owed to him for extended work and expenses. The Education Department reviewed the proposal but reported major discrepancies in the financial documents.
In a statement issued on Thursday night, the department clarified that Arya’s project documentation was “incomplete” and contained “exaggerated expenses” across categories such as advertising, manpower, technical support, and the screening of his documentary Let’s Change.
The department stated, “Due to these deficiencies, the scheme could not be implemented.”
Officials also revealed that Arya, acting as Director of Project Let’s Change, had been collecting registration fees directly from participating schools, an act for which he had no official authorisation.
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Funds Not Returned, Project Discontinued By Govt
In August last year, Arya was instructed to deposit all collected money into a government account. He was further informed that his proposal to renew the Cleanliness Monitors programme would not be considered until these funds were returned.
Despite the order, Arya neither deposited the money nor submitted the required affidavit. Following last year’s Assembly elections and after the BJP’s Mahayuti government returned to power under Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, the project was automatically discontinued.