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 man arrested for allegedly breaking into actor Saif Ali Khan’s Mumbai home and stabbing him six times is a Bangladeshi national who entered India illegally and had been living in Mumbai for the past few months, Mumbai Police said today.

Speaking to the media this morning, Deputy Commissioner of Police Dixit Gedam said they have arrested an accused in connection with the burglary attempt at the actor’s Bandra home late on Wednesday night. The accused, he said, had been identified as Mohammad Sariful Islam Shehzad. “The investigation has revealed that this accused could be from Bangladesh. He does not have any Indian document. We suspect he is from Bangladesh, we are investigating and have added Passport Act charges to the case against him,” the senior officer said, adding that the accused entered the actor’s home to commit robbery.

“We have recovered some items from him that suggest he is from Bangladesh. He came to India illegally and changed his name to Bijoy Das. He has been living in Mumbai for about four months and was working at a housekeeping agency,” the senior officer said.

Mr Gedam added that the accused had been arrested from Thane and is now bein questioned.

The intruder had managed to break into the actor’s home through the fire exit at the back. His maid spotted him and screamed. When Mr Khan confronted him, the attacker stabbed him six times and fled. The actor was rushed to the nearby Lilavati Hospital. Doctors have said he is recovering well.

“The robber asked for money and when he was opposed, he attacked the maid Junu and Saif Ali Khan and injured them. Police have taken the accused into custody on the basis of technical evidence. The accused’s name is Shariful Islam Shehzad and he is a Bangladeshi national,” a police statement said, adding that the accused has also been charged under sections relating to illegally entering India.

What Happened That Night

In her statement to the police, Eliyama Philip, who works as a nanny for Saif’s sons, has said she was the first to spot the intruder. The 56-year-old has said was woken up by some noises around 2 am. She saw the bathroom door ajar and the light on and assumed that Kareena Kapoor Khan was checking in on her younger son Jahangir or Jeh.

“… 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, 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?’. He said, ‘I want money.’ I asked, ‘How much do you want?’ He said in English, ‘one crore’,” Ms Philip has said in her statement.

Hearing Ms Philip 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 escape, she said.

An Attack That Shocked Mumbai

The attack on the popular actor has shocked the nation and prompted questions the law and order situation in the Maximum City. From the Opposition to members of the cinema fraternity, several prominent voices have questioned the Devendra Fadnavis government on how safe ordinary people are if celebrities can be attacked like this.

Under fire, the Chief Minister has said, “Among all the megacities in the country, Mumbai is the safest. It is true that some incidents take place sometimes and they should be treated with seriousness but to say, based on one incident, that Mumbai is unsafe would not be correct. This tarnishes Mumbai’s image. But the government is working to make Mumbai even safer.”