Lagatar24 Desk
Mumbai: Filmmaker Rohit Arya, who held 19 people, including 17 children, hostage in Powai on Thursday, had demanded ₹2.4 crore from the Maharashtra government over a payment dispute linked to a cleanliness drive he had executed through his company, Apsara Media Entertainment Network. The standoff ended dramatically when Arya was shot dead by police during a rescue operation.
Payment Dispute and Government Clarification
In a video released before the incident, Arya claimed he was owed ₹2 crore by the government for his work on Project Let’s Change, an urban sanitation and awareness campaign that reportedly involved 59 lakh school students as “swachhata monitors.”
However, the Maharashtra Education Department later clarified that while Arya’s firm was engaged in 2022 and 2023 for the project and received ₹9.9 lakh as an initial disbursement, his later submissions for the second phase were incomplete and inflated, particularly regarding advertising and manpower costs. Due to these “technical gaps,” the project could not move forward.
Unauthorized Fund Collection
The government also accused Arya of illegally collecting registration fees from participating schools. According to Education Minister Dadaji Bhuse, Arya was never authorized to collect money under the program, which required formal tenders and government oversight. The department had instructed Arya to return the collected funds and file an affidavit pledging not to repeat such actions, but he allegedly failed to comply.
Hostage Crisis and Aftermath
Arya’s confrontation with authorities turned violent when he stormed a school premises and took students and staff hostage while demanding the pending payment. The tense situation ended after police commandos stormed the building, killing Arya and safely rescuing the captives.
Following the incident, Arya’s wife, Anjali Arya, said her husband had long fought for both the sanctioned amount of ₹2 crore and official recognition for his work, claiming he was pushed to desperation after years of neglect by the authorities.
