BHOPAL: “Ma, Rohit has got into the house!” This scream, from a terrified MTech grad and actress, early Friday morning was the start of a 12-hour hostage crisis that Bhopalis had only ever seen on TV.A crazed youth — armed with a pistol, knife and scissors — allegedly stabbed the woman and then locked themselves in her bedroom. As she lay bleeding for hours, Rohit Singh aka Regal indulged in video chats with reporters and police, went live on Facebook with grisly images of the injured girl, demanding they be “shared maximum”, and kept police dancing to his music.Late at night, it turned out that he had plotted it after watching a movie the woman had acted in, say police.Like Bollywood script — the industry he claims to work for — he played his moves and dragged out the crisis exactly as long as he wanted, giving himself up a little after 7pm.The hostage was rescued and admitted to hospital. She gave a statement to police, saying she was threatened at gunpoint. “I had no option but to agree to marry him. But I don’t want to,” she told police.And in an example of how police messed up the entire operation, SP-south Rahul Kumar Lodha told reporters after the rescue: “They are in love and want to marry. There’s nothing wrong in that. They are adults. But the process he (Rohit) used is wrong.” This was after she had been rescued and he didn’t have to play-act to Rohit as earlier.Police allowed Rohit the upper hand by fulfilling all his demands. Eventually he had his way, ending the drama when he said he would. SP Lodha said their priority was to get the girl out safe. And he succeeded. Residents, whose lives came to a standstill because of the 12-hour showdown, wondered why the SP didn’t arrive earlier and take charge of the situation as he did.Businesswoman Pratiksha Mishra, a resident of the society, said: “Police unnecessarily delayed the matter. If they take so long to tackle an amateur, how will they handle a terrorist?” Swati Joshi, a resident of the same locality, said that her children were locked in the flat because of the media frenzy. Misrod police started on the right note. They arrived quietly and parked their vehicles discreetly so as not to draw attention. But it all went downhill when the hostage taker started video-chatting.A few residents, who had a close-up view of the drama, pointed out some moments when police could have barged into the room and nabbed Rohit. “Instead, police allowed the hostage taker to put up a show. He enjoyed the popularity,” said a resident. The best opportunity was when SI G S Rajput showed great courage to grab Rohit’s pistol. If a few more cops had joined in, the crisis would have been over, said a resident. Specialized units like SDRF and policemen clad in bulletproof vests arrived not until 5pm. SP Lodha said police handled the situation tactically. “He had a pistol and could have harmed the girl. I and other officers counselled him and waited for him to calm down. Police took him into confidence to ensure her safety,” he said.

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