He asked us to behave: Girl recounts terrifying Powai studio hostage ordeal

We saw him holding a gun He asked us to behave and then told us to call our parents one by one over the phonerdquo recounted an 11yearold from Kolhapur who was held hostage with 15 other children at the RA Studio in Powai on Thursday The young girl and her immediate family travelled to the city of dreams last week Having scored a few onscreen roles in Marathi serials and movies the young star attended workshops and trial shoots that were taking place at the studioOpening up about what happened before her captor Rohit Arya was gunned down by the police she said ldquoWe were only supposed to audition for five days and Wednesday was supposed to be our last day However Rohit Arya formed three teams of children He then sent a few of them home and called the rest of us for an extra shoot day He had been friendly all alongrdquoRA Studio in Powai where the incident took place on Thursday PicBy Special ArrangementldquoWe asked to be present at 930 am on Thursday and I showed up by 945 am As usual we had a good breakfast and we were sent up to the room on the first floor We stayed there for a while and the door was initially open But he eventually shut the door and we remained inside After a while we started asking questions and wanted to go outside as some had to use the bathroom Rohit Arya told us that a lsquoscenersquo was being shot and we must remain there After some time we began hearing the cries of our parents from outside Thatrsquos when my grandmother stepped inrdquo she saidGranny steps inMangal Jagganath Patankar 75 happened to be the 17th person inside the room The senior citizen would routinely sit inside the studio to beat the heat while the childrsquos parents waited downstairs Mangal got up to see what was happening and called out to her daughter to inform her that everyone was all right She then ushered the children into another room and began keeping a watch on themRohit Arya who held 16 children and a senior citizen captive before being gunned down by the policeldquoWe were scared at first but we were told that our parents would come get us Rohit Arya was carrying a gun and he asked us to behave and cooperate He was asking us to call our parents one by one We requested our parents to come get us I think he had asked them to get moneyrdquo she added According to her family and friends the police intervened before she could make the callWhile the police tried to break open the room of locked children the door allegedly fell on Mangal who was consequently injured and rushed to the closest medical centre Nirali Healthcare Facility in Chandivli There she was told that she had sustained a deep injury to her left axilla with muscle tear and vessel rupture and was also administered four to five stitches on her foreheadRare opportunityThe young girl came across the Mumbaibased acting opportunity on a WhatsApp group In fact it had even appeared on their schoolrsquos WhatsApp group Happy to take it on the young girl with her father mother and maternal grandmother had set out from Kolhapur to Mumbai for trial shoots and acting workshops that were to take place at RA Studio The four bunked with her uncle in Thane while the child would visit the studios from October 26While both the girl and her grandmother are out of danger the parents of the child have been shaken up Her father Sachin Jadhav said ldquoWe had come for one thing and then we faced a whole other ordeal We thought it would be a good opportunity for her since she had already been cast for TVrdquoWith both her motherrsquos and daughterrsquos lives on the line Vijaya Jadhav faced one of the tensest situations of her life ldquoI nearly fainted twice I am eternally grateful to my mother for being there with the children inside Now I am a little nervous about sending my daughter to auditionsrdquo she told the mediaHow food stall vendorrsquos son narrowly avoided being held hostageUmesh Tiwari who runs a food stall near RA Studio had also sent his son for the auditions that culminated in Thursdayrsquos hostage drama After two days of auditions and training his son Prince was put on the waiting list They were told that they would be contacted in DecemberUmesh Tiwari PICRITIKA GONDHALEKARAt the time of the crisis Tiwari was at his stall and could hear the screams and cries of the parents of the children who were being held captive inside the studio Hearing this he ran towards the building climbed the bamboo scaffolding around it and tried to look inside The entire studio had been covered with curtains by Rohit AryaFrom time to time Arya would open the curtains and look outside When he lifted the curtain at one such moment Tiwari managed to catch a glimpse inside and was shocked to see that Arya had made some of the children sit on the floor On a table in front of them there were flammable materials Arya then proceeded to threaten Tiwari and point a gun at him Tiwari then immediately called the police bringing the incident to light