Mumbai:

The knife attack on Bollywood star Saif Ali Khan – which doctors at Mumbai’s Lilavati Hospital said left him with six stab wounds, including one near his spinal cord – was not real, Maharashtra Ports Minister Nitesh Rane has alleged, in shocking comments a day after the 54-year-old actor was discharged and returned home.

He accused Mr Khan – whom he seemed to refer to as “garbage” – of “dancing while walking” out of the hospital, and ranted, “I doubted if he had been stabbed… or if he was acting.”

“Look at what Bangladeshis are doing in Mumbai. They entered Saif Ali Khan’s house. Earlier they used to stand at road crossings… now they have started entering houses. Maybe he came to take him (Mr Khan) away. It is good… garbage should be taken away,” the BJP leader said.

#WATCH | Pune: Maharashtra Minister Nitesh Rane says, “Look at what Bangladeshis are doing in Mumbai. They entered Saif Ali Khan’s house. Earlier they used to stand at the crossings of the roads, now they have started entering houses. Maybe he came to take him (Saif) away. It is… pic.twitter.com/XUBwpwQ6RQ

— ANI (@ANI) January 23, 2025

“I saw when he came out of the hospital. I doubted whether he had been stabbed, or he was acting. He was dancing while walking,” he was quoted by news agency ANI.

READ | “If Knife Was 2 mm Deeper…”: Doctors Say Saif Out Of ICU

The crass, and incendiary, comments didn’t end there.

Rane also hit out at NCP leaders Jitendra Awhad and Supriya Sule, accusing them of showing concern only “whenever any Khan, like Shah Rukh Khan or Saif Ali Khan, gets hurt”.

“… everyone starts talking about it then. When a Hindu actor like Sushant Singh Rajput is tortured, no one comes forward to say anything… that Mumbra’s Jeetuddin (a crude reference to Mr Awhad) and Baramati’s Tai (Ms Sule) did not come forward to say anything…”

READ | Held Tightly, Attacker Stabbed Saif In Back To Free Himself: Sources

“Have you ever seen them worrying about any Hindu artist?”

Ajit Pawar Responds

The comments were shrugged off by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who said, “I don’t know what he said… but if he has something on his mind, he can tell the Home Department.” Mumbai Police reports to the state’s Home Ministry, which is led by Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis.

“The truth, at the moment, is that the person has been arrested. That person had come from Bangladesh… everyone has an attraction towards Mumbai.”

“He needed to go back to Bangladesh after seeing Mumbai (but) needed money,” Mr Pawar said, suggesting Shehzad may have been trying to steal cash to buy a ticket home.

Mr Khan’s nanny had said Shehzad demanded Rs 1 crore when confronted.

READ | Attacker Entered Room Of Saif’s Son Jeh, Wanted Rs 1 Crore: Sources

“Perhaps yesterday, when Saif Ali Khan was going home, looking at his health and clothes it was difficult to guess he was attacked a few days ago. But what happened was true,” Mr Pawar said.

Sanjay Nirupam’s Shocker Too

However, it wasn’t just Nitesh Rane making such comments.

Sanjay Nirupam, who was with the Congress before switching to Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena faction, said, “… the way Saif came out… it seemed nothing happened six days ago.”

Bangladeshi National Arrested

Mr Khan was attacked, the police believe, by Shariful Shehzad, a Bangladeshi national living illegally in India. The cops also believe Shehzad, who said he didn’t know he was in the actor’s home, was trying to burgle it when he was confronted, first by the nanny and then Mr Khan.

Shehzad has been arrested and is in police custody; he was tracked down to Thane after leading the cops on a long-winded chase through parts of Mumbai as he tried to return to Bangladesh.

READ | Paratha By UPI Payment: How Cops Caught Saif Attack Suspect

The lawyer representing Shehzad has argued the allegations are false and that his client is being made a scapegoat because a celebrity is involved. “… nothing (incriminating) has been recovered from him.”

READ | Saif Attacker Jailed For 5 Days, Claims He Is Being Framed

“They have not produced any document to prove he is a Bangladeshi national,” his lawyer said. However, the suspect himself reportedly told cops, “…haan, maine hi kiya hai (yes, I did it)”.

With input from agencies

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New Delhi:

Undone by a paratha. And the digital payments infrastructure.

That was how Shariful Islam Shehzad, the man accused of stabbing Saif Ali Khan six times – in a suspected attempted burglary incident – was tracked down and arrested by Mumbai Police Sunday.

Sources told NDTV this morning teams of police looking for Shehzad zeroed in on his location after he paid for breakfast – a paratha – via a Google Pay transaction, presumably on his mobile phone.

Sources also said he used to work at that restaurant, where he received praise for his hard work. The police also reportedly plan to speak to the person who hired Shehzad – a man called Pandey.

From there the accused fled to Dadar and then to Thane.

READ | Man Who Stabbed Saif Ali Khan Hid In Thane. How Cops Found Him 

This was after he earlier jumped from Bandra (where the attack took place) to Dadar to Worli and then Andheri, and then back to Dadar; moving around was how he managed to evade the cops for a while.

How Shehzad Was Finally Caught

A Bangladeshi national living illegally in India, he was taken into custody off the side of a deserted road in the Thane area; in scenes that would not be out of place in a movie, he was hunted into a thicket by the side of the road that was then surrounded before the police caught their man.

He had been on the run since the attack on the Bollywood star at his home in Mumbai’s posh Bandra West area (very) early Thursday. The police believe he sneaked past the high-profile building’s security by jumping over the compound wall of an adjacent building and sneaking in via a rear staircase.

He reportedly told cops he used the air-conditioning ducts to avoid detection.

A police official said Shehzad took the stairs till the seventh or eighth floor and then entered the ducts, climbing to the 12th floor and entering the actor’s flat through a bathroom window. He was seen spotted by the actor’s staff, which led to the chain of events that resulted in the attack.

Shehzad was caught on CCTV cameras entering and exiting stairwell, providing clear images that helped the police identify him and track his movements. The hunt included forming 30 police teams, each following separate leads and lines of investigation, including scanning hours of security footage.

READ | Another Photo Of Saif Case Suspect: Changed Clothes After Attack

The footage wasn’t just from Saif Ali Khan’s home; in fact, a critical moment was when the cops spotted Shehzad on CCTV footage in DN Nagar in Andheri, which is about 12 km from Bandra West.

He was spotted on a two-wheeler, which provided cops with another way to track him.

In escaping from the police (for as long he did), Shehzad was at a bus stop in the Bandra area till 7am on the day of the attack, after which he made his way on to a train to Worli.

READ | Saif Ali Khan Attack Accused Slept At Bus Stop After Incident: Cops

The police also latched on to his phone’s signal for a while, but lost that after he turned it off; he told cops he panicked after seeing his photo (from CCTV cameras in the rear stairwell in Saif Ali Khan’s house) on TV news bulletins. The last-recorded location of the phone was from Thane.

What Happened That Night

A little past 2am on Thursday, Shehzad was caught inside the bedroom of the actor’s youngest son – Jehangir. Shehzad told police he did not know he was in the Bollywood star’s home. In the scuffle that followed Khan was stabbed six times, including a life-threatening wound near his spinal cord.

After the stabbing the suspect fled, changing his blood-stained clothes on the way; the police haven’t yet found that piece of the evidence chain, which they will need to match with Saif Ali Khan’s blood and prove, beyond any reasonable doubt, that Shehzad stabbed the actor.

READ | “If Knife Was 2 mm Deeper…”: Doctors Say Saif Out Of ICU

Khan was rushed to Lilavati Hospital – in an auto-rickshaw because his private vehicles were not immediately available – where he underwent extensive surgery for several hours. Doctors – who recovered a two-and-half inch piece of the knife lodged in his back – later said he is recovering well.

Shehzad has been sent to police custody for five days.

The police are also checking if he had accomplices within the actor’s home.

Attacker’s Lawyer Says ‘Innocent’

The lawyer representing Shehzad has argued the allegations are false and that his client is being made a scapegoat because a celebrity is involved. “… nothing (incriminating) has been recovered from him.”

READ | Saif Attacker Jailed For 5 Days, Claims He Is Being Framed

“They have not produced any document to prove he is a Bangladeshi national,” his lawyer said.

However, the suspect himself reportedly told cops, “…haan, maine hi kiya hai (yes, I did it)”.

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Mumbai:

The manhunt to arrest the intruder who attacked actor Saif Ali Khan in his Bandra residence on Thursday is still ongoing, with the Mumbai Police recording statements of over 30 people. One person has been detained for questioning.

Mumbai:

A nurse caring for Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor’s younger son Jehangir (Jeh), Eliyama Philips – who first encountered the intruder that stabbed Mr Khan – has described the accused as a 35 to 40 years old man with a dark complexion. According to Ms Philps, the attacker has a slim build and is approximately 5 feet 5 inches tall.

At the time of the incident, the attacker was wearing dark-coloured pants and a shirt with a cap on his head, she told the police.

“If I see the said man again, I will recognise him,” Ms Philips said.

Saif Ali Khan and his family members – wife and actor Kareena Kapoor, and their two sons Jeh and Taimur – were in the house when the attacker entered the 12th-floor apartment during the early hours of Thursday. Mr Khan’s five house helpers were also inside the house. According to Ms Philip, she was the first to spot the intruder on the 11th floor.

“I saw the bathroom door ajar and the light on…At first I assumed Kareena Kapoor was checking in on her son. I went back to sleep but soon realised something was wrong. I got up again to check when I saw a man come out of the bathroom and go into Jeh and Taimur’s room,” the nanny narrated.

At this point, she confronted the attacker, following which he demanded Rs 1 crore.

“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” in Hindi…When I rushed to pick up Jeh, the intruder who was armed with a wooden stick and a long Hexa blade, ran towards me and tried attacking me,” she said.

Awakened by her screams, Mr Khan rushed to his son’s room. When he tried to confront the intruder, he was attacked multiple times. The actor’s spinal fluid leaked out after shards of the attacker’s knife lodged into his spine. According to the doctors at the Lilavati Hospital – where Mr Khan is undergoing treatment – they repaired the spinal injury and performed plastic surgeries on the actor’s hand and neck.

Also Read | Nannies Fought Attacker, Tried To Lock Him Up: Tense 30 Minutes At Saif’s Home

What initial investigation revealed

According to the initial investigation, the attacker possibly sneaked inside Mr Khan’s house at some point earlier in the night. The suspect was last seen running away on the sixth floor of the building and was not captured in the lobby’s CCTV cameras while entering or exiting. After the sixth floor, the suspect was nowhere to be seen, nor was he caught exiting through the main entrance.

Officials suspect that the accused was familiar with the layout of the building and used the shaft and stairs to reach the 11th floor. 

After the incident, the attacker immediately ran from the house and was later spotted near Bandra railway station. He likely took the first local train in the morning, officials said.

The police have registered a case under sections of robbery, trespassing, and “grievous hurt caused while committing lurking house-trespass”. 20 teams have been formed to arrest the accused. The police have also recovered a 2.5-inch portion of a knife that was taken out from Mr Khan’s spine.

Earlier today,  a suspect was taken into custody after a massive manhunt that involved gathering technical data and police informers spreading out across Mumbai. Visuals showed the man being brought to the Bandra police station. However, it is not yet confirmed if the suspect is the same man who attacked Mr Khan.

New Delhi:

Bollywood Actor Saif Ali Khan, stabbed by an unidentified person at 2 am, is currently hospitalised at Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai. The actor has six stabs, out of which two are deep, said Dr Niraj Uttamani from the Lilavati Hospital.

In an official statement, Dr Niraj Uttamani, Chief Operating Officer of Lilavati Hospital said that Saif Ali Khan was stabbed by an unidentified person at his Bandra home and was brought in at 3:30 am.

Dr Uttamani said that Mr Khan has six stab wounds and two are deep. “Of this one is close to the spine. He is being operated upon by a team of doctors led by Neurosurgeon Dr Nitin Dange, cosmetic surgeon Dr Leena Jain and Anaesthesiologist Dr Nisha Gandhi.”

While the neurosurgery is over, the plastic surgeon is still repairing the wounds. “Saif is out of danger. We will give a report in an hour,” said Dr Uttamani.

Mr Khan’s team has issued a statement, confirming that there was an attempted burglary and the actor is undergoing surgery.

The statement read: “There was an attempted burglary at Mr Saif Ali Khan’s residence. He is currently in hospital undergoing a surgery. We request the media and fans to be patient. It is a police matter. We will keep you updated on the situation.”

As per the initial investigation, an intruder barged into Mr Khan’s Mumbai house at the Satguru Sharan building, while he was asleep. A fight broke out between the two – actor and burglar – following which the latter stabbed the actor and fled the crime scene.

An FIR has been registered against an intruder at the Bandra Police Station.

According to the sources, the Police have taken three employees, working at Mr Khan’s house, for interrogation. An employee working at Mr Khan’s house was also injured in the incident.

The Mumbai Crime Branch has been entrusted with the responsibility of parallel investigation. Seven teams have been formed to search for the suspect.

While one team is scanning the CCTV footage, the other will leave Mumbai, and three other teams have left for different areas of Mumbai.

READ | “If Celebrities Not Safe, Who Is?” Team Uddhav After Saif Ali Khan Stabbed