Abductor stocked food for kids, installed CCTVs

The terrifying hostage situation that played out at Powai on Thursday had been meticulously planned by the now deceased hostage-taker and short filmmaker, Rohit Aarrya, who held 17 teenagers captive in a studio while shooting a web series.

- Vinay Dalvi

Aarrya had stockpiled food for the children in the event of a long-drawn drama. He also got a broken latch on the studio's door repaired, and installed CCTV cameras at strategic points on the premises, so that footage would be streamed to his smart phone; he was not privy to the feed of the preinstalled surveillance cameras.

The really chilling twist, though, comes from the story Aarrya told the children and his assistant - that he wanted to make a short film on children rebelling against corruption, and there was a scene in which children would be kidnapped, Rohan Raj Aher said in his statement to the Mumbai police team investigating the case. This, Aarrya hoped, would be a smokescreen for the preparations he was making for the actual hostage situation that was to unfold a couple of days later.