Rohit Arya — the man who was shot dead by Mumbai Police after taking 17 children Mumbai hostage case in a Powai theatre on Thursday — had in a last video before the police shot him dead, said he was forced to take this extreme step as the government had not paid his pending “dues.” The Maharashtra school education department officials, however, said there is no record of this.

Rohit Arya, who had entered the theatre premises with an airgun and an inflammable spray, had held 17 children hostage inside the audition theatre where they had gone for an audition test. He was held by police for over three hours and during this time the children were rescued and Arya was killed by the police in a “surgical strike.”

Here is the backstory of the “unpaid dues”

Rohit Arya, during the standoff in Powai on Thursday, recorded a video from inside RA Studio at Mahavir Classic building where the children were kept hostage situation. In this video, Arya said he had no intention of hurting the children and had only come to the city from Latur district to seek justice for ₹2 crore in unpaid dues from the Maharashtra education department.

Maharashtra’s former state education minister and Shiv Sena leader Deepak Kesarkar said Arya was asked to conduct a cleanliness awareness drive called Swachhata Monitor on a pilot basis in 2022, 2023, and 2024. Kesarkar also added that he had helped Arya with a “little money” last year when the latter had complained that Swachhata Monitor project had not been paid by the department.

A police official, on the condition of anonymity, said Arya had been staging protests on July 24, August 20, and October 24, 2024, outside Kesarkar’s residence, as well as at Azad Maidan, Mumbai, alleging that the education department used his short films and documentaries to promote cleanliness, but had neither given him credit nor paid him, reported Hindustan Times.