Mumbai:
A man was arrested from Maharashtra’s Thane early this morning for allegedly attacking Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan in his house. The accused, identified as Mohammed Aliyan, was caught near the Hiranandani Estate in Kasarvadavali, about 35 kilometres from Mr Saif’s residence.
He said his name was Vijay Das because of his fear of getting caught. He used to work as a housekeeping staff at a bar in Thane.
Saif Ali Khan suffered multiple stab wounds, including on his neck and near the spine, after an intruder entered his upscale Bandra home and attacked him in the early hours of Thursday.
The 54-year-old actor – who was stabbed six times – was rushed to the city’s Lilavati Hospital in an autorickshaw where he underwent emergency surgery. A 2.5-inch piece of the blade was removed from his spine after a five-hour-long surgery.
He is recovering well, doctors treating him said Friday.
Earlier Saturday, a suspect – identified as 31-year-old Aakash Kailash Kannojia from Mumbai – was detained at Chhattisgarh’s Durg railway station.
Officials said he was “caught from the Mumbai-Howrah Jnaneswari Express on the lead of the Mumbai Police.”
“Around 2 pm, when the train reached Durg, the suspect – who was sitting in the general compartment – deboarded and was immediately taken into custody. He is being interrogated,” the Railway Protection Force (RPF) officials said.
“The Mumbai Police had sent the suspect’s photo, train number and location to the RPF, after which he was caught,” they said. The man was travelling without a ticket.
Sources claimed the detained passenger looked like the suspect in the actor-stabbing case.
Saif Ali Khan Attacked At His Mumbai Residence
Saif Ali Khan was attacked when he was with his family members – his wife and fellow actor Kareena Kapoor Khan, and their two sons, four-year-old Jeh and eight-year-old Taimur – at his residence in the 12-floor apartment – Satguru Sharan – in Bandra.
Eliyama Philip – a nurse caring for Jeh – and another staffer were also injured in the attack. In a statement to the police, Ms Philip said she was the first to spot the intruder – who was between 35-40 years old – at Mr Khan’s apartment on the 11th floor.
She also said the knife-wielding attacker also demanded a ransom of Rs 1 crore.
A view of the 12-storey building, Satguru Sharan, in which Saif Ali Khan was attacked
Photo Credit: ANI
The 56-year-old said she had been woken by noises in the house around 2 am – three hours after Jehangir had been put to bed. She told the police the attacker first entered Jeh’s room.
She claimed she saw the bathroom door ajar and the light on and first assumed that Ms Kapoor Khan was checking in on her younger son.
“… then I went back to sleep but, again, I realised something was wrong. So I woke up again and saw a man come out of the bathroom and go into the boy’s room.
“I quickly got up and went to Jeh’s room. The attacker then put his finger near his mouth and said “Don’t make any noise, nobody will go out” in Hindi,” Ms Philip said.
When I rushed to pick up Jeh, the man – who was armed with a wooden stick and a long Hexa blade – ran towards me and tried attacking me, she said.
“I tried to block the attack by putting my hand forward, but the blade hit me near the wrists of both my hands and on the middle finger of my left hand,” she said.
“At that time, I asked him, “What do you want?”. Then he said, “I want money.” I asked, “How much do you want?” Then he said in English, “One crore”,” Ms Philip recalled in her police statement.
Saif Ali Khan Confronts Intruder
Hearing Eliyama Philip’s scream, Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor Khan rushed out of their room. When Mr Khan asked the intruder what he wanted, he attacked him with a wooden object and the hexa blade, Ms Philip said.
“Saif Sir somehow managed to get away from him and we all ran out of the room and pulled the door of the room,” she said, adding that everyone then went to the upper floor of their home.
The intruder later managed to escape, she said.
Suspect in Saif Ali Khan knife attack incident
According to police sources, there was no sign of forced entry, nor was anyone captured on CCTV entering the premises in the two hours before the attack.
Police sources said the intruder – who entered the actor’s home to commit burglary – had scaled the wall of an adjacent compound to enter the premises.
He was reportedly familiar with the layout of the building and took the stairs on the rear side of the building to reach the floor where the actor lives. He then entered Mr Khan’s home through the fire escape.
Mumbai Police had formed about 30 teams to arrest the accused, who was also captured on CCTV cameras in the building.
