Mumbai: A tense situation unfolded at RA Studios in Mumbai’s Powai on Thursday after reports that several children attending acting classes on the first floor had been taken hostage. Parents gathered frantically outside the studio as some children were seen looking out of windows in visible distress.

Police teams rushed to the scene after receiving the alert and cordoned off the area. A high alert was declared while officers worked to identify the suspect and determine his motive. The accused, identified as Rohit Arya, has been detained, and the children were later released unharmed, police said.

Authorities said Arya posted a video in which he made threats and set out his demands, and portions of that recording were circulated on social media. In the video he said, “I am Rohit Arya. Instead of committing suicide, I have made a plan and have kept some kids here. I don’t have much demands. I have very simple demands. I have very moral demands and very ethical demands. And I have some questions. I have to talk to some people. I have to ask them questions. If I have a counter-question on their answer, then I have to ask a counter-question. But I want this answer. ” He stated in the confession video that is going viral on social media.

“I don’t want anything else. Neither am I a terrorist, nor do I have a great demand for money. There is no demand for money. So, it is not immoral at all. I have to have simple conversations. And for that, I have taken these kids as a hostage. I have taken them as a hostage according to a plan. Let’s change format. I was really going to do it. I am going to do it. If I am alive, I will do it. If I die, someone else will do it. But it will definitely happen. It will happen with these kids only if they are not harmed. Because the slightest wrong move from your end will trigger me,” Arya stated in confession video.

Mumbai Police officials said the detained man is being questioned and that investigators are verifying the video and tracing any accomplices or underlying motives. Police sources confirmed that no injuries were reported among the children or staff.

Parents at the scene described a harrowing wait until authorities secured the premises and confirmed the children’s safety. The local police have appealed to the public not to share unverified footage that could hamper the investigation. Further details are expected as the probe progresses.

Mumbai: Mumbai Police have booked a tuition teacher from Ghatkopar for allegedly assaulting a 13-year-old student after she failed to complete her Diwali vacation homework. The incident took place on October 25 at a private coaching centre in Gurunanak Nagar in Ghatkopar West.

The accused teacher, identified as Lakshmi Deepak Khadka, allegedly struck the Std VIII student with a wooden stick during class, leaving her with visible injuries on her hand, quoting the police. The matter came to light when the girl’s father noticed red marks on her hand after she returned home.

On being questioned, the girl narrated that she was hit by her tutor for not finishing her holiday assignments. Angered by the incident, her father approached the Ghatkopar police station and lodged a complaint.

Based on his complaint, an FIR was registered against the teacher under Section 118(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), which deals with voluntarily causing hurt or grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means, and Section 75 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, which pertains to cruelty toward a child by a person responsible for their care or supervision.

Senior Police Inspector Satish Jadhav confirmed that the teacher has been issued a notice as per legal procedure and will soon be summoned for questioning. “We have already recorded the girl’s statement and are in the process of examining other students and staff members who were present during the class,” he said. Jadhav further added that the preliminary investigation suggests the girl was hit twice on her hand with a wooden stick, leaving a deep mark.

New Delhi, Oct 30: In recent months, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has been cracking down heavily on the Dawood Ibrahim-linked drug network in India.

The arrests of Danish Chikna and Mohammed Salim Sheikh have dealt major blows to the Dawood network, and this has prompted the syndicate to look for newer avenues.

As Intelligence agencies continue to focus heavily on the networks in Maharashtra and neighbouring states, the D-Syndicate is looking to expand its networks in the northeastern and southern states of India.

Action would be taken similarly in these parts of the country. However, it is necessary to bust the networks in states such as Maharashtra and Gujarat, which have been the traditional playground of the syndicate for a long.

While Dawood Ibrahim has diversified his business in various parts of the country, the command centre remains in Maharashtra.

The people working for the network in this sector control the businesses across the country, and hence, breaking their backs first is important. This would eventually lead to the weakening of the networks in other parts of the country.

Operations in the northeastern and southern states are currently overseen by Haji Salim, an ISI stooge and a member of the Dawood network.

Salim has been playing a big part in the D-Syndicate after Dawood’s right-hand man, Chhota Shakeel, has gone mysteriously quiet.

With Dawood’s brother Anees Ibrahim put in charge of the International wing, which does business mostly in African nations, the onus of the Indian markets has largely fallen upon Salim.

According to Intelligence agencies, the ISI and syndicate have now instructed Salim to focus entirely on the southern and northeastern sector as they feel that there is a major potential.

The syndicate sees potential in the northeast owing to the existing routes from Myanmar. With Bangladesh opening up completely to the ISI, the syndicate sees further potential in this sector.

In the South, the syndicate’s network exists. However, this network has largely focused on smuggling drugs out of the country. The narcotics would first be smuggled into the southern states, especially Kerala and Tamil Nadu, and later, to the international markets such as Thailand through the Sri Lanka route.

An Intelligence Bureau official says that the syndicate is also looking to bring in more drugs through Sri Lanka before distributing it in the Indian market.

While the international market is huge for the syndicate, it is not ready to let go of India, as demand is huge.

The syndicate not just wants to cover its losses in Maharashtra, but also the ones it is incurring in Punjab.

Several attempts to bring in drugs through the Punjab route using both couriers and drones are failing owing to heavy scrutiny and security. Hence, the Dawood network wants to take maximum advantage of the southern route so that it can smuggle drugs in huge quantities and then distribute them to the Indian market.

To bring in drugs from the international market, the syndicate would use the route from Sri Lanka. The network would look to smuggle the consignment into Tamil Nadu and Kerala before supplying it into the Indian market.

According to officials, the network feels that this would be an easier route, as most of the consignments in the Indian market will be transported via land route.

The scrutiny at the southern international borders is relatively less when compared to the borders along Punjab or Jammu and Kashmir. Further, using the land route to smuggle drugs into India would also attract less scrutiny, and the syndicate hopes there would be more hits than misses.

Another official also pointed out that the D-Syndicate is also tapping into the illegal immigrants who have settled in South India in huge numbers. They could be used as carriers to supply the drugs into the Indian markets, officials also warned.