Have sought report on hostage-taker Rohit Arya's work with education dept: Maharashtra minister

Mumbai, Oct 31 (PTI) Maharashtra minister Dada Bhuse on Friday said he has sought a report regarding the work hostage-taker Rohit Arya had done with the education department.

Arya (50) was shot dead after he allegedly took 17 children and two adults hostage inside R A Studio in Powai on Thursday.

The children, boys and girls between the ages of 10 and 12, had been called to the studio for an audition for a web series that had been ongoing for six days. Police rescued the children after a three-hour hostage drama, but Arya was killed after sustaining a bullet injury during the operation.

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.

Since Arya did not furnish any information about this, no further action was taken in this matter, the statement said. PTI PR ARU