NEW DELHI, Oct 30 (Bernama) — Police in India’s Mumbai city on Thursday rescued 17 children after they were taken hostage by a man who invited them for an audition.
The hostage taker, identified as Rohit Arya, was shot by the police during an hour-long standoff, local media reported, citing the police.
Arya was taken to hospital but succumbed to his gunshot wounds.
The man set up a fake web series audition to which many youngsters responded. He took 17 children and two other people hostage in a studio in Mumbai’s Powai area.
The hostage taker, said to be a YouTuber and teacher from Maharashtra state, earlier released a video claiming that he was neither a “terrorist” nor seeking money to free the captives but wanted to have a “simple conversation” with some people about his unspecified “moral and ethical” demands.
He threatened to set the place on fire if anyone intervened.
Mumbai’s fire department personnel cut open the grills using hydraulic tools to let police enter the studio.
Police recovered an air gun and chemical containers from the site, according to the reports.
— BERNAMA