The high-voltage hostage drama that gripped Mumbai on Thursday drew nationwide attention after a man, identified as Rohit Arya, held around 17 children and two adults captive inside a Powai studio. The tense three-hour siege ended when police stormed RA Studio, rescuing all the captives. Arya, who sustained gunshot wounds during the operation, later succumbed to his injuries.
The children, boys and girls aged between 10 and 12, had reportedly been called to the studio for an audition for a web series that had been ongoing for six days.
Before police intervention, Arya released a video stating that he had planned to hold the children hostage instead of taking his own life.
However, this was not the first such incident in Mumbai or India. Over the years, several hostage crises have shocked the nation. Here are some of the most notable ones:
Subhash Batham (30 January 2020)
In one of the most chilling hostage incidents in recent memory, murder accused Subhash Batham, out on bail, held his wife, one-year-old daughter, and over 20 village children captive inside his home in Farrukhabad district, Uttar Pradesh.
Batham had invited children from his village to his house under the pretext of celebrating his daughter’s birthday. Once they were inside, he locked the doors and held everyone, including his own family, at gunpoint. After a 10-hour standoff, police shot Batham dead, rescuing all 23 children unharmed.
Harish Marolia (March 2010)
In March 2010, retired customs officer Harish Marolia took a 14-year-old girl hostage in his Andheri (West) flat. The 60-year-old had a heated dispute with members of his housing society moments before the incident.
After objecting to ongoing construction in the building, Marolia opened fire in the air and later locked himself inside his flat with the girl, identified as Himani. The standoff ended tragically when Marolia killed the teenager before being shot dead by police.
Rahul Raj (27 October 2008)
In one of Mumbai’s most dramatic hostage crises, 25-year-old gunman Rahul Raj from Bihar hijacked a double-decker civic bus in Andheri, holding passengers at gunpoint.
As the bus reached Bail Bazar in Kurla, nearly 100 policemen surrounded it. When officers urged Raj to surrender, he threw out a currency note on which he had scrawled that he had come to “kill” Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray, whose party had been targeting North Indians at the time.
The tense confrontation ended when police shot Raj dead, bringing the bloody siege to a close.
