The Mumbai Police is planning to get a psychological study done of Rohit Arya’s behaviour in the months prior to the hostage situation and the day of the actual incident. So far, apart from the fact that he was protesting, nothing has come to the fore that points to any criminal tendencies or mental health issues.
“ One of the questions that we will have to answer is why he decided to hold so many children hostage. and if there was any particular trigger to something he was influenced by,” said an officer from the Mumbai Police.
While the officer did not clearly state how the analysis would be carried out, he said they will talk to people close to him to see if there was any change in Arya’s behaviour. “If need be, we will take help of domain experts such as psychologists and doctors who are better equipped to look into behavioural issues and point out particular triggers ,” added the officer.
Meanwhile, the police began recording statements of various people, including officer Amol Waghmare who shot Arya. Police have also recorded statements of the three people whom he sent his video and asked to take it to the Powai police station.
“We will be making them witnesses in the case and record their statement in due course,” said the officer.
When the police team went to the spot to conduct a panchnama, they found a lot of chocolates and wafer packets that he had brought and suspect he was preparing for a long haul (Express Photo)
Till Saturday, around six statements have been recorded by the police—the most important among them being that of the 75-year-old woman, who was also kept in hostage along with the 17 children. Police are yet to record the statement of Arya’s wife Anjali, which will be crucial to the probe.
An official said, “We have recorded the statement of the 75-year-old woman and her granddaughter who were in the studio when the hostage situation unfolded. Since her granddaughter feared being there alone, the grandmother accompanied her to the studio and hence, ended up being one of the hostages.”
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“Arya’s post-mortem was carried out at a Pune crematorium, which was attended by his family. After a few days, we will be recording the statement of his wife. His wife and son were in Ahmedabad for the past few days. Arya was staying alone at the Chembur residence of a relative, which he had taken on rent,” added the official.
According to police, soon after the children and their parents realized it was an actual hostage situation, a commotion began, which made Arya anxious and he kept moving from one room to the other where he had divided the hostages. An official said that even when they spoke to him on the phone, as time passed by, he got more and more anxious. He would sometimes cut the call mid-conversation, and then refuse to take calls.
“We could hear him shout at the children and we also made a few video calls to him and asked parents to plead. However, he was getting anxious that children would overpower him or someone would try to enter, due to which he was on the edge. We realized there was this fear of him taking some rash action, hence a go-ahead was given to a team to enter the studio from the rear as the negotiation was not going anywhere,” added the official.
When the police team went to the spot to conduct a panchnama, they found a lot of chocolates and wafer packets that he had brought and suspect he was preparing for a long haul.
