Powai hostage crisis: Rohit Aarrya collected fees without approval, claims CM; oppn asks why captor wasn’t taken alive

NAGPUR: Even as the opposition questioned the ‘police encounter’ of Rohit Aarrya, alleging that the Oct 30 Powai hostage crisis involving him was a result of the govt failing to pay him for a cleanliness project he led, the state govt on Tuesday said in the Legislative Assembly that Aarrya, through his Apsara Media Entertainment Network, was charging registration fees from schools for taking part in the Swachhta Monitor 2024-25 initiative without the approval of the state govt.In a reply to a calling attention motion moved by MLAs Vijay Wadettiwar, Nana Patole, Vikas Thakare, and Amin Patel, among others, CM Devendra Fadnavis said that while his proposal was under consideration, it came to notice that he was charging registration fees without approval. Aarrya was informed by the school education department to deposit the fees collected in the govt account, which he did not do. Wadettiwar alleged the incident occurred because the then school education minister Deepak Kesarkar withheld his payments. Kesarkar said he personally donated money to Swachhta Monitor scheme operator Aarrya via cheque when he was school education minister.“He made a video stating, ‘Give me my money, I am not a terrorist’. Despite this, why was Rohit Aarrya encountered? Why was he not shot in the leg? How was an encounter specialist police officer available right at that time?” asked Wadettiwar.