Hours after Mumbai police shot dead Rohit Arya, who held 19 people, including 17 children, hostage in Powai area and threatened to kill them if he was not allowed to speak to former Maharashtra School Education Minister Deepak Kesarkar, the Shiv Sena leader has broke his silence.
Kesarkar on Thursday claimed that he had given financial help to Arya, 50, who had been a project director in Project Let's Change initiative run by the education department. He allegedly took money from school students through a website and the department had taken objection to it, the former minister claimed.
Sindhudurg, Maharashtra: On Rohit Arya, who had held 17 children hostage in the Powai area of Mumbai, Former Minister Deepak Kesarkar says, "Rohit Arya had a concept called 'Swachhata Monitor.' He was also assigned some work under 'Mera School Ek Sundar School Hai.' However, he… pic.twitter.com/WFZbGc7Qy0
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Arya had held a protest in Pune in 2024 over his “pending dues” from the education department.
Kesarkar claimed that he met Arya and even offered him financial help after the man complained that the department had defaulted on a payment due to him.
All 19 hostages were rescued from RA Studio in Powai while police shot dead Arya during the operation.
Under Project Let's Change, which ran the Swachhta Monitor initiative from July 20 to October 2, 2023, school students were to act as Swachhta (cleanliness) monitors to spread awareness on spitting and littering in public places. Around 64,000 schools and 59 lakh students participated in the first phase.
The second phase ran under 'Mukhyamantri Majhi Shala, Sundar Shala' scheme for which Rs 20.63 crore was sanctioned. Of this sum, Rs 2 crore was sanctioned for Swachhta Monitor phase 2, handled by Arya.
"I did not default on anyone's payment. I helped him through a cheque out of courtesy. The department was of the view that he took money directly from students by opening a website. The department has sought an explanation from him which was necessary," Kesarkar alleged.
He claimed that Arya could have demanded money from the government and given explanation for taking money from students. "I met him since he used to run the Swachhta campaign,” he said.
Arya's wife, Anjali Arya, told reporters that her husband was trying to get the pending payment for his project. "He was the project head for the PLC Swachhta Monitor. Kesarkar saheb liked the project and told him that the state government was sanctioning Rs 2 crore for it. The entire project was completed, but no funds were paid to Rohit. He did not even get recognition," she alleged.
