Copyright news18
The Mumbai Police plans to conduct a psychological study of Rohit Arya’s behaviour in the months leading up to the day he took 17 children hostage, the Indian Express reported. The police department may seek help from psychologists and doctors to look into behavioural issues and triggers. The study may look at why Arya took children hostage, the IE report said. The 50-year-old on Thursday took 17 children, between the ages of 10 and 12, and two others hostage at a studio in Mumbai’s Powai area after calling them for a fake audition. Police rescued the children and two adults after a three-hour hostage drama that ended in Arya’s death. Rohit Arya’s last rites performed The last rites of Arya were performed in Pune in the early hours of Saturday. His body was transported to Pune after a post-mortem at Mumbai’s JJ Hospital. The last rites were performed in the presence of Arya’s wife, son and other close members of his family. According to police sources, Arya had been living away from Pune for some time. Preliminary information suggests he had very little contact with his family in recent years. Arya had earlier claimed that the dues for a project he had undertaken for the Maharashtra education department were pending, and he had even staged a protest in Pune to get the amount. The dues angle Maharashtra minister Dada Bhuse on Friday said he has sought a report regarding the work Arya had done with the education department. He had earlier claimed that his dues for a project for the Maharashtra education department were pending, and he had even staged a protest in Pune. Speaking to reporters, Bhuse, who heads the school education department, said that Arya’s Apsara Entertainment Network ran the Swachhta Monitor initiative, and he had taken money from schools to be a part of it. “The department appears to have taken action against him. We have sought a detailed report from the department on the work done by him (Arya),” the minister said. On Thursday, former Maharashtra school education minister Deepak Kesarkar said that he had provided financial help to Arya. He claimed that Arya had taken money from school students through a website, and the department had taken objection to it. Kesarkar said he had met Arya and even offered him financial help after the latter complained that the department had defaulted on a payment due to him. According to a government resolution of the School Education department dated January 25, 2024, Arya was the director of Project Let’s Change, which ran the Swachhta Monitor initiative from July 20 to October 2, 2023. Under the initiative, school students were to act as Swachhta (cleanliness) monitors and discourage people from spitting and littering in public places. Around 64,000 schools and 59 lakh students participated in it. The education department, in a statement on Friday, said that the Swachhta Monitor initiative was first approved by the government on September 27, 2022, and implemented by Arya’s Apsara Media Entertainment Network. The government gave its approval to implement it for the second time on June 30, 2023, and the company was paid Rs 9.9 lakh for the purpose. In 2023-24, under the Mukhyamantri Majhi Shala Sundar Shala initiative, the government approved Rs 2 crore for the second phase of Swachhta Monitor. The education department stated that Arya submitted estimated costs for advertising, management, technical support, screening of a film, etc. However, the scheme was not implemented, as its effectiveness could not be gauged. In 2024-25, Arya again requested that the initiative be implemented and sought Rs 2.41 crore for the purpose, the department said. Even as his proposal was under consideration, Arya, through the portal www.swachhtamonitor.in, started charging a registration cost from schools. When this came to the government’s notice, the Education Commissioner was asked to collect the registration costs charged by Apsara Media Entertainment and the company was asked to provide an assurance letter that it would not charge schools. As Arya did not furnish any information about this, no further action was taken in this matter, the statement said. With PTI Inputs
