"Don't Trigger Me": 17 Children Went For Audition In Mumbai, Held Hostage

At least 17 children were rescued in Mumbai after a man held them hostage in the Powai neighbourhood. The suspect, who identified himself as Rohit Arya in a video message released before the incident, died in hospital of a bullet injury he sustained in exchange with gunfire with the police.

Police said they mounted a rapid response after the video circulated and managed to secure the children shortly after they were held hostage. 

In the video, the man said he had chosen hostage-taking instead of suicide in order to force conversations with unspecified people. "I am Rohit Arya. Instead of dying by suicide, I have made a plan and am holding some children hostage here," he said, listing what he described as "simple demands, moral demands, ethical demands, and a few questions." He warned that "the slightest wrong move from you will trigger me" and threatened to set the place on fire, adding that he did not seek money and was "not a terrorist".

"I want simple conversations, and that's why I've taken these children hostage. I've held them hostage as part of a plan. If I live, I'll do it; if I die, someone else will, but it will definitely happen because the slightest wrong move from you will trigger me to set this whole place on fire and die in it," Arya said in the video. 

According to police sources, the children had come to RA Studios, located on the ground floor of a building in Powai, for a film audition. Police have recovered what appears to be an air gun and some chemicals from the location. 

According to the police, the cops received a distress call around 1:45 pm. 

A team was immediately deployed, which began negotiations with the accused. When he refused to release the children, the police conducted a forced entry through the bathroom and rescued the children who were inside.

The motive behind the hostage-taking remains unclear. Further investigation into the case underway.