‘Unpaid’ dues, Swachhata Monitor project: Story behind Rohit Arya, the Mumbai hostage-taker

ROhit Arya, the adult male who crack deadened by bombay law after he took 17 children hostage at an audition theatre in Powai on Thursday, said in his last video that he was committing the act over payment of "dues" from the government - a claim denied by the Maharashtra school education department.Rohit Arya, carrying an airgun and an inflammable spray, held 17 children hostage at the theatre where they had reportedly been called for an 'audition' late on Thursday. Police rescued the children and shot the accused dead following a 3.5-hour-long rescue operation.While he held the children at RA Studio at Mahavir Classic, a commercial-cum-residential building in Powai, he recorded a video and claimed that hurting the children was not his intention. Rather, Arya said, he just wanted to speak to certain people to recover a due of ₹2 crore that the Maharashtra education department owed him.In the video, he said that his demands are "simple and moral and ethical", adding that "I am not a terrorist and do not have any monetary demands, and my demands are not immoral at all". What are these "dues"?Shiv Sena leader Deepak Kesarkar said on Thursday that during his tenure as state education minister from 2022 to 2024 he had had asked Rohit Arya to carry out a cleanliness awareness programme, Swachhata Monitor, on a pilot basis. He had also personally given some money to Arya last year after he complained that the education department was withholding the money owed to him.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.ALSO READ | Who was Rohit Arya? Man behind Mumbai hostage scare shot dead during rescue operationA police officer told the media that in July and August 2024, and in October 2024, Arya sat on protests outside his official bungalow and the Azad Maidan, claiming that the education department used his short films and documentaries highlighting the significance of cleanliness, but failed to give him any credit or payment for the work, HT reported.Facebook posts on the 'Swachhta Monitor' account suggest that Arya often spoke about the non-payment matter, claiming he had been wronged and was forced to protest indefinitely.His wife, Anjali Arya, had previously told the media that her husband had been struggling to get the sanctioned payment for his project, which was approved by Kesarkar.What the govt says?In response to Arya's claim, the Maharashtra government's school education department issued a statement on Thursday regarding the controversy over unpaid dues to the accused, a filmmaker and activist. It said that Arya did not back the claim for his ‘dues’ with relevant documents.The department cited data and claimed that Arya charged registration fees from several schools for participation in Swachhata Monitor 2024-25, a cleanliness drive in schools. Additionally, the budget he submitted for the drive was vague and lacked proper documentation.ALSO READ | 16 children went for acting audition in Mumbai's Powai, became hostagesIn August 2024, the department claimed that it had asked Arya to deposit the money collected from schools and students into a government account and then submit a detailed budget with relevant documents for further action. But since Arya failed to do so, the matter was left there itself.Arya's firm, Apsara Media Entertainment Network, had initiated Project Let's Change under Swachchata Monitor, a project which was first approved through the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) via a government letter dated September 27, 2022.For a second time, the initiative was approved through a government letter dated June 30, 2023, and ₹9,90,000 was paid to his firm.The department's statement further said that in 2023-24, the initiative was approved for the third time under the Mukhyamantri Majhi Shala Sundar Shala, along with a ₹2 crore budget.However, the budget submitted by Arya for operational costs, advertising and other technical expenses did not have any documents to back the numbers up. The technical gaps led the scheme to be unimplemented.Following this, Arya again requested the department to re-implement the Swachhata Monitor 2024-25 under Project Let's Change in all state schools, requesting ₹2,41,81,000 crore to implement the initiative.While considering the proposal, the government discovered that Arya's firm was charging a mutual relationship fee for participating in the Swachhata Monitor 2024-25 campaign on its private website without any valid approval.“The commissioner (Education), Maharashtra, Pune informed him on August 23, 2024 that Apsara Media Entertainment Network should deposit the amount collected from the schools for participation in the Swachhata Monitor initiative into the government account. Along with that, Apsara Media Entertainment Network would submit a letter that it will not charge any fee from the schools for the Swachhata Monitor initiative," the education department's statement said.It further added, "After the completion of these two conditions, the proposal of Apsara Media Entertainment Network should be submitted to the government for implementing the Swachhata Monitor 2024-25 initiative. However, due to the requisite information not being received from Rohit Arya, further action could not be taken."Subsequently, after the Devendra Fadnavis-led NDA government came to power last year, the Swachhata Monitor was discontinued.Former education minister Deepak Kesarkar, meanwhile, clarified that he had given some money to Rohit after he complained that the education department had defaulted on a payment due to him.After Arya flagged the matter, Kesarkar had even held a meeting with department officials to discuss this.“It was revealed that he hadn’t submitted the required documents. In government, no department can release funds without proper bills. He was demanding payment without documentation and refused to listen to officials. Finally, out of humanity, I paid him some amount from my personal account,” the Shiv Sena leader added.Kesarkar said that Arya should have sorted the matter out with the department instead of taking the children hostage.(with inputs from Vinay Dalvi, Yogesh Naik and Saurabha Kulshreshtha)