Police Kill Acting Coach Who Took 19 Hostages At Mumbai Studio

India-West News Desk

MUMBAI- A three-hour hostage crisis at a Mumbai acting studio ended on October 30 when police fatally shot a self-styled acting coach who had taken 17 children and two adults captive in the city’s Powai neighborhood.

The assailant, identified as Rohit Arya from Pune, lured children aged 10 to 15 to RA Studio under the pretext of web series auditions. The situation turned tense when Arya locked the premises and released a video claiming he had taken hostages to ask “moral and ethical questions.”

“I am not a terrorist, nor do I have any demand for money,” Arya said in the clip rreleased by police. “I just want to have simple conversations, and for that reason I have taken these children hostage.”

Police negotiators attempted to reason with Arya, but he remained uncooperative, threatening to set the studio on fire if officers intervened. A team eventually entered the under-construction building through a bathroom window and shot him dead.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Datta Nalawade described the operation as “challenging,” emphasizing that rescuing the children was the top priority. “All the children are safe and have been handed over to their parents,” said Joint Commissioner Satya Narayan Chaudhary.

Police recovered an airgun and an unidentified chemical substance from the site.

According to reports, Arya had been in a dispute with Maharashtra’s School Education Department, alleging that the government owed him payment.

Officials denied the claim.