Mumbai: A social media channel owner was shot dead by Mumbai Police in a hostage drama plotted by him using an air gun to confine 20 children at R A Studio in Mumbai’s Powai on Thursday, a police official said.

Rohit Arya died of excessive bleeding while being taken to the hospital after the police stormed the premises where he held the children hostage for about 30 minutes under the garb of conducting an acting audition, police said.

After holding the students hostage, Arya circulated a video as part of a plan to force certain individuals to speak to him, failing which he threatened to set the studio building and the hostages on fire, the police said.

The Mumbai Police were alerted after some of the hostages, who attend acting classes on the first floor, managed to wave at passersby a

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