When reel became real: Arya had told crew they were going to shoot children hostage situation
Mumbai (PTI): Rohit Arya had told his film crew that they were going to shoot a hostage drama involving children, without providing any inkling that he was planning a real-life situation which was to end in a tragedy, his videographer said on Friday.
Arya took 17 children and two adults hostage inside R A Studio in Powai on Thursday before being shot dead by police during a rescue operation.
Videographer Rohan Aher, who had been working with Arya for the last 10 years and was a prime witness during the three-hour drama, recounted the sequence of events before the media.
The auditions which Arya was conducting at a studio in Powai, ostensibly for a web series, had got over by Wednesday, but Arya extended them by another day, he said.
Aher had shot films for Arya's initiatives including `Swachhta Monitor' and `Lets Change' projects, he said.
On Wednesday, Arya told him that they were going to shoot a hostage situation involving children, Aher said. Arya also asked him to bring five liters of petrol and firecrackers for the shoot, but Aher did not follow the instructions as there were going to be children in the studio, he said.
When Aher reached the studio on Thursday morning, a spot boy told him nobody was allowed to go into the studio upstairs. After some time, Arya himself came down, and told him they wanted to shoot a scene involving fire, and he had brought bottles of rubber solution for the purpose, Aher said.
Arya also asked him to lock the gate and all the entry points of the studio. Subsequently, Arya poured the rubber solution and set it on fire in front of the children, he said.
Aher and others were scared and asked him not to do it, so Arya, wielding an air gun, asked Aher to stay away. Aher ran out of the studio and told the people standing outside they should call police, he said.
He then went upstairs and broke a glass window of the studio with a hammer (in an attempt to rescue the children inside), sustaining an injury to his hand, Aher said, adding that Arya sprayed pepper spray into his eyes, making him fall down the staircase.
Aher, however, helped a senior citizen woman who was inside to come out, and she too sustained a head injury in the process, he said.
In the meantime, police had reached the spot and started negotiations with Arya.
Aher again sneaked into the studio and asked the children to get out with him, but four children remained inside, he said.
By this time the police had forced entry into the studio.
When Aher returned to bring out the remaining children, he heard gunfire, he said, adding he did not remember how many shots he heard.
As per the police, Arya fired an air gun at them, and was hit in the chest in retaliatory firing. He was declared dead in hospital.
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Women's reservation must be implemented without being made contingent on delimitation: CM
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday said that the Women's Reservation Bill is a long-overdue reform that must be implemented immediately within the existing framework, without being made contingent on delimitation.
Terming the delimitation as the political re-engineering at the cost of southern states, Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar said that these states will stand united, speak in one voice, and defend the true spirit of federalism.
The leaders' statements came a day before the Constitutional Amendment Bill with provisions on women's reservation implementation and delimitation was tabled in the Lok Sabha.
"You are right in highlighting the larger implications of the proposed delimitation approach and the concerns it raises for southern states. We wholeheartedly support the Women's Reservation Bill - it is a long-overdue reform that must be implemented immediately within the existing framework, without being made contingent on delimitation," Siddaramaiah said in a post on 'X'.
He was replying to his Telangana counterpart A Revanth Reddy's post on 'X' with a letter, urging the former to unitedly resist moves to push a pro rata model to increase Lok Sabha seats, which would be highly detrimental and inimical to the interests of southern states.
"Any exercise that reshapes political representation must be undertaken with utmost care. The Union Government must engage all states in a transparent and consultative process, and ensure that fairness, federal balance, and consensus guide this critical decision," Siddaramaiah added.
Shivakumar said that this is not a delimitation, but political re-engineering "at the cost of southern states".
"The proposal to increase Lok Sabha seats from 543 to 850 will systematically reduce the voice of the South, while rewarding unchecked population growth elsewhere. This is nothing but punishing progress and good governance," he posted on 'X'.
Clarifying that Congress fully supports women's reservation and in fact, it was party's top leader Sonia Gandhi's vision and commitment that brought this dream to the national agenda, the Deputy CM said, "We demand that it be implemented without linking it to delimitation or seat expansion."
"I urge the Union Govt to not hide behind women's empowerment to push a deely unfair political agenda. Rushing such a massive restructuring of India's democracy during elections, without transparency or consultation, is deeply suspicious and unacceptable," he said.
Asserting that India's strength lies in balance not domination, and in fairness, not manipulation, Shivakumar said, "The Southern states will stand united, speak in one voice, and defend the true spirit of federalism."
"We will not allow the South to be politically marginalised."
