The hostage drama that shook Mumbai on Thursday was rooted in a long-running dispute over alleged unpaid dues on a government cleanliness awareness project.
Rohit Arya, a filmmaker and project director who claimed the Maharashtra Education Department owed him ₹2 crore, held 17 children and two adults hostage before being shot dead by police following a 3.5-hour standoff, Hindustan Times reported.
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The hostage drama
The children were held hostage by Arya, who was armed with an air gun and an inflammable spray, at RA Studio in Mahavir Classic, Powai, where they had been called for an "audition". During the standoff, Arya also recorded a video saying he does not intend to harm the children.
His demands are “simple and moral and ethical," he said in the clip, adding, " I am not a terrorist and do not have any monetary demands, and my demands are not immoral at all." He claimed his only objective was to speak to government officials to recover dues owed to him. In the operation, police saved all 17 children unharmed and shot Arya dead.
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The Swachhata Monitor dispute
As per a report by the Hindustan Times, Shiv Sena leader and former Maharashtra education minister Deepak Kesarkar, Arya was associated with a cleanliness awareness programme called Swachhata Monitor, run under the state's Majhi Shala, Sundar Shala programme.
Kesarkar said during his tenure from 2022 to 2024, he had asked Arya to conduct the project on a pilot basis. He also had even given him some money personally after he complained that the education department was withholding the money owed to him.
Arya was project director for Project Let’s Change - PLA Swachhata Monitor, which was adopted by the state’s Primary Education Department in 2022. The report also states that a police source said Arya staged multiple protests in July, August, and again in October 2024, outside the bungalow of former minister Deepak Kesarkar at Azad Maidan. During these demonstrations, he alleged that the Education department had screened his short films and documentaries on cleanliness awareness without giving credit or settling his dues.
What does the government say?
The Department of School Education for Maharashtra refuted Arya's claims of dues on Thursday, saying that his firm, Apsara Media Entertainment Network, failed to provide necessary documentation in support of its financial demands, Hindustan Times reported.
The department also said Arya's company charged registration fees from schools participating in Swachhata Monitor 2024-25 without official sanctions. It claimed that Arya was instructed as early as August 2024 to deposit the collected funds into a government account and submit detailed documentation, but he never complied.
The report also states that, according to a government record, Arya’s company, Apsara Media Entertainment Network, launched Project Let’s Change as part of the Swachhata Monitor initiative, which had initially received approval under the government’s CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) framework through an official letter issued on September 27, 2022.
Arya's firm was paid an advance sum of ₹9.9 lakh upon approval in 2023, while a follow-up proposal for ₹2 crore was approved for the third time under the Mukhyamantri Majhi Shala but was rejected due to vague budgeting and a lack of supporting ents.
The education department in a statement said, “The commissioner (Education), Maharashtra, Pune, informed him on August 23, 2024, that Apsara Media Entertainment Network should deposit the amount collected from the schools for participation in the Swachhata Monitor initiative into the government account. Along with that, Apsara Media Entertainment Network would submit a letter stating that it will not charge any fee from the schools for the Swachhata Monitor initiative.”
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“After the completion of these two conditions, the proposal of Apsara Media Entertainment Network should be submitted to the government for implementing the Swachhata Monitor 2024-25 initiative. However, due to the requisite information not being received from Rohit Arya, further action could not be taken”, they further added.
‘Paid from my own pocket’
Kesarkar confirmed that he had intervened in the matter, but official payments could not be made without proper paperwork. “It was revealed that he hadn’t submitted the required documents. In government, no department can release funds without proper bills. He was demanding payment without documentation and refused to listen to officials. Finally, out of humanity, I paid him some amount from my personal account,” he said.
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The Swachhata Monitor project was discontinued by the government after a new Devendra Fadnavis-led NDA government came to power last year. Kesarkar further said that Arya should have resolved the matter through proper channels instead of endangering lives.
