Mumbai hostage drama: Police record statements of over dozen persons

Mumbai, Nov 4 (PTI) Police have so far recorded statements of over a dozen persons, including eye witnesses and police officers, in connection with the hostage drama involving children in a recording studio in Mumbai which ended with the death of captor Rohit Arya, officials said on Tuesday.

Arya (50) died in police firing during the rescue operation on October 30.

Multiple teams of Mumbai crime branch are investigating the hostage crisis and the death of Arya, who had confined 19 persons, including 17 children, for nearly three hours inside a recording studio in Powai.

Crime branch officials are investigating various angles of the case and going to record statements of everyone connected with the episode, an official said.

So far, police have recorded statements of over a dozen persons, including an witnesses and videographer, Rohan Aher, who was inside the studio during the hostage situation, he said.

Officials have also recorded the statements of assistant inspector Amol Waghmare, the complainant in the case, and a senior officer of the Powai police station. However, statements of the parents of the children who were held hostage, the actors who visited the studio and some senior officers were yet to be recorded, he said.

Police have seized various items, including the gun Arya had used to threaten police, chemical bottles and clothes from the studio, and sent them to a forensic science laboratory for analysis, the official added. PTI DC RSY