Mumbai, Nov. 1 -- Rohit Aarrya, 50, who was shot dead by Mumbai police on Thursday for holding 17 students hostage to draw the state government's attention to his claim of pending dues, first came into the limelight with Project Let's Change, in Gujarat in 2013. He subsequently participated in the state's Swachchta Abhiyan in 2014, and brought the concept to Maharashtra's school education department in 2022-23, rebranding it as Swachhata Monitor. Following Thursday's trail of events, people in the know in the state education department said Aarrya had purportedly collected Rs.4 crore from the around 80,000 schools as registration fees to participate in the programme, without government's permission. When this came to light, and the government asked him to furnish documents of the transactions, and return the ill-gotten booty, he stopped all communication. Over a decade ago, Aarrya's Let's Change campaign in Gujarat was backed by then chief minister Narandra Modi. Following its success, the Gujarat government announced the Mahatma Gandhi Swachhta Mission in early 2014. Given its popularity, it was extended to Mission Swachh Bharat in 2014. When the Mahayuti government came to power in June 2022, Aarrya approached then school education minister Deepak Kesarkar for a cleanliness campaign in schools under the Let's Change brand. Aarrya's Apsara Media Entertainment Network's project Let's Change, under the initiative of Swachhata Monitor, was first approved through CSR, evidenced by a government letter dated September, 27, 2022. It received a second approval from the government through a letter dated June 30, 2023 when Rs.9,90,000 was paid to his organisation. Eventually, the education department issued an official government order recognizing the project, and on July 10, 2023, the directorate of school education issued a letter to all deputy directors and education officers making them aware of Project Let's Change (PLC) - Swachhata Monitor. HT has a copy of the letter, which also explained how the scheme would be implemented at the district and school levels. After its success, the concept of Swachhata Monitor was included as a component in the Mukhyamantri Majhi Shala, Sundar Shala campaign, to make schoolchildren aware of cleanliness by creating swachhata doots (messengers). Trouble began when Aarrya submitted a budget proposal showing costs for advertising, management and technical support, without supporting documents, said an official from the education department. While the proposal was under consideration, the education commissioner's office received complaints from some schools for being charged Rs.499 each by Aarrya as registration fee. "While investigating the first lot of complaints, we realised around 80,000 of a total of 1.1 lakh schools had registered for the initiative; which means, around Rs.4 crore was collected which was unauthorised," said an official. The project was then put on ice. This led Aarrya to stage a hunger strike in July 2024 in Pune, demanding his dues. When Kesarkar and other officials met him, he said he deserved to be compensated as Swachchata Monitor was his concept. An official who participated in the meeting said, "We questioned him about the money he had charged from schools without government permission. When asked to submit a budget proposal, he was reluctant to do so." On September 4, the department sent him an official letter to furnish details regarding the money collected from schools. Aarrya responded saying, "Why should we give details of amount submitted by schools for our private initiative and through our private website." In response, the deputy education director pressed Aarrya for "details of the money collected immediately". After this, he fell silent. "He did not comply with the demands. So, if the proposal was not submitted and therefore remained unapproved, how can the government release money on the basis of claims that it was his concept?" said the official....