Mumbai's History of Hostage Crises: From Recent Child Rescue to Past Incidents

17 children were rescued after being taken hostage in Mumbai's Powai area on Thursday.

Mumbai:

On Thursday, Mumbai experienced a tense hostage situation involving numerous children. While alarming, this metropolis has faced several hostage crises previously that have tested police capabilities in non-terror related incidents.

Police successfully resolved a dramatic three-hour hostage situation, rescuing 17 children and two adults who were held at a studio in Powai. The captor, identified as Rohit Arya (50), sustained a bullet injury during police action and subsequently died.

The incident began around 1:30 pm when Powai police station received an alert that Arya had taken the children hostage inside RA Studio in the Mahavir Classic building. The children, aged 10 to 12, had been invited to the studio for a web series audition that had been ongoing for two days.

A police official noted this may be the first recent incident involving such a large number of child hostages in the city.

However, Mumbai has witnessed several hostage situations over the past decade.

In March 2010, Harish Marolia, a 60-year-old retired customs officer, took 14-year-old Himani hostage in his Andheri (West) flat following a dispute with housing society members. Before the hostage-taking, Marolia had protested construction work in the building and threatened the society secretary by firing into the air.

That situation ended tragically when Marolia killed the teenager before being shot dead by police.

In November 2008, Rahul Raj, a 25-year-old from Bihar, held commuters hostage on a double-decker civic bus traveling from Andheri. When the bus reached Bail Bazar in Kurla, approximately 100 police officers surrounded the vehicle.

When ordered to surrender, Raj threw out a currency note with a written message indicating he had come to "kill" Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) president Raj Thackeray, whose party had initiated an anti-migrant campaign targeting North Indians. Police fatally shot the 25-year-old, ending the crisis.

"In hostage situations, the paramount objective is saving lives and ensuring minimal damage. Negotiations are conducted with these two goals in mind," explained Shailni Sharma, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Nagpur, in a phone interview with PTI.

Sharma was the Mumbai Police's first woman officer sent to London for specialized hostage situation training following the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. In 2022, she was called to train National Security Guard (NSG) commandos in hostage scenario management.

"When negotiations with hostage-takers reach an impasse, the operation team makes decisions according to the immediate requirements," Sharma stated.

During the 2010 Andheri incident, Sharma was summoned to negotiate with Marolia, but by then police had already entered the flat and shots had been fired.

In 2013 and 2017, Sharma saved two women contemplating suicide through persuasive conversation.

During anti-CAA and NRC protests in Mumbai, Sharma served as senior police inspector in Nagpada, managing the demonstrations through dialogue.