MUMBAI, Nov. 1 -- The terrifying hostage crisis that played out in Powai on Thursday had been meticulously planned by the now-deceased hostage-taker and short filmmaker, Rohit Aarrya, who held 17 teenagers captive in a studio while appearing to shoot a web series. Aarrya had stockpiled food for the children in the event of a long-drawn drama. He also got a broken latch on the studio's door repaired, and installed motion sensors to alert him if anyone unexpected tried to enter into the premises. Taking absolutely no chances, Aarrya also installed CCTV cameras at strategic points in the studio, so that footage could be streamed to his smart phone; he was not privy to the feed from the pre-installed surveillance cameras. The truly chilling twist lies in the story Aarrya told the children and his assistant - that he was making a short film about children rebelling against corruption, which required a scene depicting their kidnapping. This detail emerged from the police statement made by Rohan Raj Aher, Aarrya's assistant, who was one of two adults taken hostage. The purported film, Aarrya hoped, would serve as a smokescreen for the real hostage drama he was secretly planning to stage a few days later. Aher, who also addressed the media on Friday, was taken to the crime scene by the police, to recreate the sequence of events. He told investigators that Aarrya had stocked flammable liquid in the studio. "He had asked me to bring 5 litres petrol and fire-crackers," said Aher, who worked as a theatre trainer with Aarrya on this assignment. Aarrya also tied up another detail. "Since our studio booking was to end on Wednesday, Aarrya spoke to the owner and asked for a day's extension. He told me they needed to give the children acting lessons for one more day," he told the media. "I had worked with Aarrya, off and on, since 2012. We were out of touch, when he called me recently and offered me this assignment. He told me he wanted to make a short film on children's rebellion against corruption and there was a scene in which children would be kidnapped," said Aher. Sachin Jadhav, a farmer from Kolhapur, whose daughter was one of the hostages, said shooting began on Sunday, October 26. "We got a call from Aarrya to join him on the 25th. We had sent him a video of my daughter and he approved. She had already worked in various short films," said Jadhav. Jadhav's mother-in-law, Mangala Patankar, 77, was also held hostage with the children as she had accompanied them to the shoot. When the crisis broke, she locked most of the children in a room, gave them food and water, and kept them calm. "Aarrya had brought a lot of food for the children," she said. "For three days, everything was fine. The children would come to the studio daily, at around 9am. Lunch break was at 1.30pm, and shooting would end at 5pm," Patankar added. The situation took a macabre turn on Tuesday - Aarrya started covering the studio's windows with black paper and stuck photos of the children on it. "He claimed the sunlight was hampering the shoot," said Jadhav. "On Thursday, Aarrya told the parents he was to shoot the kidnapping scene and even covered the children's faces with tape," said a police officer. "But when the children didn't emerge for lunch and started feeling hungry at 1.50pm, he sent a video to one of the parents, declaring that he had held all the children inside hostage," the officer added. Jadhav said, "I immediately called my mother-in-law, who said our daughter was with her. She had also locked the other children in another room." Patankar recalled, "The children were afraid on seeing what was happening. Aarrya was busy negotiating with the police. By then, he had spread a flammable liquid on the floor of the studio." As the crisis unfolded on the first floor, Aher was a floor below. "I didn't have keys to the studio. Those were with Aarrya. So I tried to break a glass door to get in but Aarrya threatened me with an air gun. I also noticed he had poured rubber solution on a cloth. It's what we usually used to ignite small fires during shoots. He had kept four children nearby and said he could ignite the cloth with a lighter," Aher told the police as well as the media. Aher went downstairs and pushed open an iron grill, through which he started speaking to the police. "I told them there were two ways to enter the studio - through toilet windows on the ground and the first floor. They could not open the ground floor toilet window, but were able to break the one on the first floor with the help of the fire brigade. That's how they entered the first floor premises," said Aher. When they confronted Aarrya, police claim he pointed an air gun at them, and they fired at him. Aarrya was shot fatally in the chest and declared dead at the hospital....