Maharashtra Minister Dada Bhuse has officially requested a detailed report concerning the work that Rohit Arya, the individual involved in a recent Mumbai hostage crisis, had previously undertaken with the state’s education department.
Arya, aged 50, was fatally shot following a dramatic three-hour standoff on Thursday, October 30, at R.A. Studio in Powai. He had allegedly taken 17 children, aged between 10 and 12, along with two adults, hostage. The children had been at the studio for several days, auditioning for a web series. Police successfully rescued all the hostages, but Arya succumbed to a bullet injury sustained during the operation.
Before this tragic incident, Arya had publicly claimed that payments for a project he completed for the Maharashtra education department were pending, even staging a protest in Pune over the issue.
Minister Bhuse, who oversees the school education department, informed reporters that Arya’s company, Apsara Entertainment Network, was behind the ‘Swachhta Monitor’ initiative. He also noted that Arya had reportedly collected money from various schools for their participation in this program.
The Minister stated, “The department appears to have taken action against him. We have now sought a detailed report from the department regarding all work carried out by him (Arya).”
Further insights came from former Maharashtra school education minister Deepak Kesarkar, who revealed he had previously offered financial assistance to Arya. Kesarkar explained that the education department had raised objections when Arya began collecting funds directly from school students via a website for the ‘Swachhta Monitor’ initiative. He had met Arya, who claimed the department had defaulted on his payments.
A government resolution from the School Education department, dated January 25, 2024, confirms that Arya served as the director for ‘Project Let’s Change,’ which implemented the ‘Swachhta Monitor’ initiative from July 20 to October 2, 2023. This project encouraged school students to act as ‘Swachhta’ (cleanliness) monitors, discouraging littering and spitting in public. The initiative saw significant participation, involving approximately 64,000 schools and 59 lakh students.
In a statement released on Friday, October 31, the education department detailed the timeline of its engagement with Arya’s projects. The ‘Swachhta Monitor’ initiative first received government approval on September 27, 2022, and was initially implemented by Apsara Media Entertainment Network. It was approved for a second phase on June 30, 2023, for which the company received ₹9.9 lakh.
For the 2023-24 period, the ‘Mukhyamantri Majhi Shala Sundar Shala’ initiative saw the government allocate ₹2 crore for the second phase of ‘Swachhta Monitor.’ Arya had submitted proposed costs covering advertising, management, technical support, and film screenings for this phase.
However, the department noted that this particular scheme was never fully implemented due to concerns regarding its measurable effectiveness. In 2024-25, Arya again sought approval to restart the initiative, requesting ₹2.41 crore.
While his latest proposal was still under review, Arya reportedly began charging schools registration fees through his portal, www.swachhtamonitor.in. Upon discovering this, the Education Commissioner was instructed to recover these fees from Apsara Media Entertainment and demand a written assurance that the company would cease charging schools directly. Since Arya failed to provide the requested information, the department took no further action on his subsequent proposals.