View of the R A Studio, where a man held 19 persons including 17 teenage children hostage in Mumbai(L), the deceased kidnapper Rohit Arya.
Credit: PTI Photos
Mumbai: The Powai hostage-crisis-and-encounter has snowballed into a full-scale political issue in Maharashtra with the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi accusing the BJP-led Maha Yuti dispensation of harassing contractors and delaying their payments even as the entire episode is set to land in the Bombay High Court. A Mumbai-based lawyer and activist Nitin Satpute is set to move the Bombay High Court with a writ petition seeking a probe into the death of the 50-year-old man.
The suspect, Rohit Arya, was agitated, as the government was not sanctioning funds — around Rs two crore — for his project even as questions arose as to why then state School Education Minister Deepak Kesarkar, who is from the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, made payments to him from his personal account.
In October 2022, Kesarkar inaugurated Project Let's Change - PLA Swachhata Monitor under the 'Majhi Shala, Sundar Shala' initiative. Under this, school students were to act as cleanliness monitors and discourage people from spitting and littering in public places. Arya was made the project director for this from July 20 to October 2, 2023.
"I did not default on anyone's payment. I helped him through a cheque out of courtesy. The department was of the view that he took money directly from students by opening a website. The department has sought an explanation from him which was necessary,” said Kesarkar, who was the minister in the Shinde-led government.
“There are reports that he collected money from schools,” added School Education Minister Dada Bhuse, who is handling the portfolio in the Devendra Fadnavis-government.
The government in a clarification said that Rohit Arya and his firm, Afsara Media Entertainment Networks, had no official link with the state’s School Education Department. “Arya’s CSR project “Swachhta Monitor” was approved only in 2021 with Rs 9 lakh funding, but it's later versions, including Swachhta Monitor 2.0 and the Rs 6.14 crore 2024–25 proposal, were never sanctioned. Despite this, the organization continued its activities privately without approval or authorization to collect funds from schools,” it said.
Pune-based social activist Vijay Kumbhar said: “The fact that Kesarkar personally gave money to Rohit Arya raises serious doubts. No minister would normally pay a contractor from his own pocket. Therefore, the motive behind this act — and the role of the administration must be independently investigated.”
Congress Legislature Party leader Vijay Wadettiwar said: “It is being said that this Rohit Arya is mentally ill; if he was mentally ill, then how was he given the job of cleanliness monitor for the School Education Department's 'Beautiful School' scheme? He was constantly saying that he has outstanding bills worth Rs two crores. Will the government take note of the seriousness of these incidents? If not, then why are they getting the work done? The state has been impoverished, and they are passing the blame onto others.”
NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar alleged that a staggering amount exceeding Rs 80,000 crore due to contractors is pending. “Due to not receiving payments, a young contractor in Nagpur as well as in Sangli has previously died by suicide. Yet, the government does not seem to grasp the seriousness of this. The government isn't waiting for the contractors demanding their pending bills to take a wrong step and then get encountered, or at least commit suicide on their own, is it?,” he asked.
Shiv Sena (UBT) Rajya Sabha member Priyanka Chaturvedi said, “What Rohit Arya did by taking students hostage must be condemned, however questions need to be asked of the state government. As per information available Rohit Arya had served as Project Director for Project Let's Change - PLA Swachhata Monitor, which the state government's Primary Education department adopted in 2022 under the Majhi Shala, Sundar Shala initiative. However he had unpaid dues for several months that were held up by the state government. Arya staged multiple protests in Nagpur, Azad Maidan in Mumbai and outside the minister's residence, seeking funds due to him. He went on a hunger strike to highlight his plight and then was forced to take the wrong step of taking students hostage.”
Lawyer to file writ petition
Claiming that the police encounter involving Rohit Arya inside a studio in Powai is “fake”, Mumbai-based lawyer and activist Nitin Satpute set to move the Bombay High Court with a writ petition seeking a probe into the death of the 50-year-old man who took 19 persons including two children as hostage. “The police could have settled the issue…It’s fake encounter…the encounter was done only to hide failure of state police machinery due to high pressure from superior, who failed to protect innocent children,” Satpute said.
Posing a series of questions, he said: "Why was Rohit Arya shot in his chest, the upper part of body and not in the lower part of body…the State government is solely responsible for kidnapping 17 minors and 2 adults. The State government cheated and duped deceased Rohit Arya for Rs 2 crore, if one believes his statement” Satpute said, adding: “If needed, police should have shot on his legs or lower upper part to neutralise him. Rohit Arya must not have any sincere intention to kidnap and harm children.”