Mumbai:

Actor Saif Ali Khan, who suffered stab injuries after an intruder entered his Mumbai home on January 16, recorded his statement with the Bandra police on Thursday. Recalling the incident, Mr Khan said that he and his actor wife Kareena Kapoor Khan were in their bedroom on the 11th floor of the Satguru Sharan building when they heard their younger son Jehangir’s (Jeh) nanny scream.

Awakened by her screams, Mr Khan and Ms Kapoor rushed to their son’s room where they saw the alleged attacker. While the nanny – Eliyama Philips – was scared and screaming, Jeh was crying, Mr Khan told the police.

When Mr Khan tried to stop the accused, he stabbed the actor several times on his back, neck, and hands, police sources said. Despite being injured, the actor pushed the intruder inside the room as Ms Philips ran away with Jeh and locked him in, they added.

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 for an apparent burglary. According to Ms Philips, the intruder had demanded Rs 1 crore.

Also Read | ID Card, Learner’s Licence: Cops Get Proof Saif Attacker Is Bangladeshi

Mr Khan, who suffered six stab injuries – one of which was on his spine – was rushed to the Lilavati Hospital around 2 am on the night of the incident. He underwent a surgery to fix leaking spinal fluid and plastic surgeries on his arm and neck. He was discharged on January 21.

Saif Ali Khan’s attacker arrested

The alleged attacker Sariful Islam, who had illegally entered India from Bangladesh last year, was arrested last week from Thane near Mumbai after a three-day manhunt involving at least 20 teams from the Mumbai Police. The cops zeroed in on his location after he paid for breakfast – a paratha – via a Google Pay transaction, sources told NDTV.

The Mumbai Police also found several fingerprints of the accused at the actor’s residence, on the stairs of the building, the door of the toilet, and the door handle of his son Jeh’s room – which have been sent for evaluation.

The 30-year-old accused reportedly confessed to the crime two days after the arrest saying, “haan, maine hi kiya hai (yes, I did it)”.

However, Shariful’s father defended his son by saying he was “wrongfully implicated” in the incident.

“From what is shown in the CCTV… my son never keeps his hair long. I believe my son is being framed. He left Bangladesh and came to India for one reason – the political unrest in Bangladesh… He was working where he received a salary, and his employer even rewarded him,” Md Ruhul Amin Fakir said.

Mumbai:

The Bangladeshi national arrested for attacking Saif Ali Khan gained entry into the actor’s building in Mumbai’s Bandra area by scaling its compound wall, and found the security guards sleeping at that time, police said on Tuesday.

The Mumbai police on Tuesday recreated the crime scene with the accused at the Satguru Sharan building, where the actor resides.

Khan (54) was stabbed repeatedly by the intruder, Shariful Islam Shehzad Mohammad Rohilla Amin Fakir alias Vijay Das (30), inside his 12-floor apartment in the wee hours of January 16. The actor suffered multiple stab injuries in the attack and underwent an emergency surgery at the Lilavati Hospital.

Three days after the attack, the police arrested the accused from neighbouring Thane city.

A police official said, “Both the security guards in the building where actor Saif Ali Khan resides were sleeping when his attacker entered it by crossing over the boundary wall.” “As he found both the security guards in deep slumber, the accused entered the building from the main entrance where no CCTV camera has been installed. The accused removed his shoes and kept them in his bag to avoid making any noise and also switched off his phone,” he said.

“During the probe, the police found that there are no CCTV cameras installed in the building’s corridor. The investigation revealed that one of the two security guards was sleeping in the cabin and the other near the gate,” he added.

In order to recreate the crime scene, the police took the accused to the actor’s building as well as at other places that he possibly visited to have food, to change clothes and to board a train, he said.

The accused is kept in the police lockup either at the Bandra or the Santacruz police stations and no one except the investigation officer has permission to meet him, he said, adding that he is being provided food that other accused are being given.

Police Inspector (Crime) Ajay Lingnurkar has been appointed as the investigation officer in the case, the official said.

Fakir, a native of Jhalokathi district in Bangladesh, had been residing in Mumbai for over five months, working odd jobs and associated with a housekeeping agency, the police have said.

A court in Mumbai on Sunday remanded the accused in five-day police custody. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Mumbai:

The Bangladeshi national, who has been arrested on charges of stabbing actor Saif Ali Khan after breaking into his residence, entered India through Meghalaya seven months ago and stayed in West Bengal for a few weeks before he moved to Mumbai in search of a job, police sources have revealed.

Mumbai Police officers involved in the interrogation of the accused, Mohammad Shariful Islam Shehzad, said the 30-year-old crossed the Dawki river, along the India-Bangladesh border in Meghalaya, to illegally enter India. He then changed his name to Bijoy Das and began living in the country, they added. 

Police had earlier said that Shehzad is a native of Jhalokathi district in Bangladesh. 

According to a police official, Shehzad said that during his stay in Bengal, he used a local resident’s Aadhaar card to procure a mobile phone SIM card before moving to Mumbai.

The SIM card was registered in the name of one Khukumoni Jahangir Sekha of Bengal, the official said.

After reaching Mumbai, the officer added, the accused chose to work in places where he was not required to furnish any documents. “He studied till Class 12 in Bangladesh and had come to India in search of a job,” the officer said. 

Saif Ali Khan suffered grievous injuries after he was stabbed six times, reportedly by Shehzad during a failed burglary attempt at the actor’s 12th-floor residence in “Satguru Sharan” building in upscale Bandra in the early hours of January 16. The doctors who performed an emergency surgery had removed a 2.5-inch piece of a broken knife from his spine afterwards. 

If the knife had pierced 2 mm deeper, it could have caused a severe injury, the doctors had noted. The actor was discharged from hospital and returned home on Tuesday.

Shehzad, sources earlier said, told police that he stabbed the actor in his back multiple times in an attempt to free himself after he had grabbed hold of him. He also said that he hid in the garden of the building housing Mr Khan flat for around two hours before fleeing the area.

In her statement to the police, Mr Khan’s wife and actor Kareena Kapoor Khan recalled the attack on her husband and said she saw the intruder stab him repeatedly. “The attacker was aggressive. I saw him attack Saif repeatedly…Our priority was to take Saif to the hospital,” she said. 

A nurse caring for the couple’s younger son Jehangir (Jeh), Eliyama Philips – who first encountered the intruder – said the accused had demanded Rs 1 crore. 

Multiple teams of the police and the crime branch worked on several inputs and analysed footage from several CCTV cameras to track down Mr Khan’s attacker. 

After over 70 hours of an intense manhunt, Shehzad was arrested from near Hiranandani Estate in Kasarvadavali in Thane, about 35 kilometres from Mr Khan’s house in Bandra, on Sunday. He was subsequently remanded in police custody for five days.

The 30-year-old Bangladeshi national, who was arrested on Sunday on charges of attacking Saif Ali Khan after breaking into his house, has told police that he stabbed the actor in his back multiple times in an attempt to free himself from his tight clutches and escape.

Sources in the police said the accused, Mohammad Shariful Islam Shehzad, also hid in the garden of the building housing Mr Khan’s flat, in upscale Bandra, for around two hours before fleeing the area.

Mr Khan, who suffered grievous injuries in the attack that took place in the early hours of Thursday, underwent an emergency surgery at Mumbai’s Lilavati Hospital. 

Doctors said they removed a 2.5-inch piece of a broken knife from his spine during the surgery. If the knife had pierced 2 mm deeper, it could have caused a severe injury, they noted.

The 54-year-old actor was discharged from the hospital and returned home on Tuesday. 

According to a source, Shehzad entered Mr Khan’s flat on the 12th floor in Satguru Sharan building from the bathroom window with an intention to commit robbery. “After he entered the house, the actor’s staff spotted him and started arguing with him. Soon, Saif Ali Khan came there and sensing a threat, he held the accused tightly from the front,” the source said. 

“As the accused did not get time to move, he started stabbing Mr Khan in his back to free himself from the actor’s grip. As Mr  Khan was injured in the attack, the accused managed to break free from his grip,” the source added. 

The source said Mr Khan then quickly locked the main door of his flat, assuming Shehzad was still inside, but the accused managed to flee using the same route through which he had entered. 

“The accused then came down and hid himself in the garden of the building for around two hours before fleeing the spot,” the source added. 

Police had earlier said the accused had entered and exited the flat through a bathroom window, the duct shaft and a ladder he used to enter from the duct.

In her statement to the police, actor Kareena Kapoor Khan recalled the attack on her husband and said she saw the intruder stab him repeatedly. “The attacker was aggressive. I saw him attack Saif repeatedly…Our priority was to take Saif to the hospital,” she said. 

A nurse caring for the couple’s younger son Jehangir (Jeh), Eliyama Philips – who first encountered the intruder – said the accused had demanded Rs 1 crore. 

Multiple teams of the police and the crime branch worked on several inputs and analysed footage from several CCTV cameras to track down Khan’s attacker.  

On Friday, a carpenter was held as he resembled the screengrab of the suspect from the CCTV footage at the actor’s building, but he was released later as he was found to have no link to the crime. A day later, a suspect was detained in Chhattisgarh’s Durg railway station but was released on Sunday.

After over 70 hours of an intense manhunt, the accused was arrested from near Hiranandani Estate in Kasarvadavali in Thane, about 35 kilometres from Mr Khan’s house in Bandra, on Sunday. He was subsequently remanded in police custody for five days.

Senior police officer Dixit Gedam told reporters that Shehzad is a Bangladeshi national. “He does not have any Indian documents. Some things found in his possession show that he is a Bangladeshi national,” Mr Gedam said.  

Police also said the accused has been living in Mumbai for the past four months and had changed his name to Bijoy Das. 

Defence lawyer Sandeep D Sherkhane, however, said the case has been hyped because of the presence of Mr Khan.  

Mr Sherkhane also contended that his client has been residing in the country for several years and has vital documents (for staying in the country), and that his family is also living in India.

Mumbai:

Mumbai police on Tuesday recreated the crime scene with the accused arrested for the knife attack on Saif Ali Khan at the actor’s residence in upscale Bandra, an official said.

A team of 20 officials reached the Satguru Sharan building in four police vans around 5.30 am and were on the premises for an hour, the official said.

He said the police team entered the building through the front gate with the accused, Shariful Islam Shehzad Mohammad Rohilla Amin Fakir. Later, they also took him to the Bandra railway station, from where he had taken a train to Dadar, and to a place outside a garden where he had slept after the attack.

Mr Khan (54) was stabbed repeatedly by the intruder inside his 12-floor apartment in the building on January 16, necessitating surgery. The police on Sunday arrested Fakir, a Bangladeshi national who was staying in India illegally after changing his name to Vijay Das, from neighbouring Thane city.

The official said after recreating the crime scene and going to places the accused had visited while on the run, Fakir was brought back to Bandra police station, where officials will interrogate him.

The metropolitan magistrate’s court in Bandra has remanded the accused in five-day police custody. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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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A Mumbai court today granted the city police five-day custody of Shariful Islam Shehzad, who has been arrested for allegedly breaking into the home of actor Saif Ali Khan and injuring him and his staff during a burglary attempt late on Wednesday night.

The accused, a Bangladeshi national, was arrested early this morning after police tracked him down to Thane. Shariful, police have said, crossed into India illegally and had been living in Mumbai for the past few months under the false name of Bijoy Das.

Hours after his arrest, he was produced in court. Police told the court that Shariful entered India illegally and added that they were investigating who helped him and aided him here. The court is also probing the accused’s acquaintances in Mumbai.

Seeking Shariful’s 14-day custody, police said they found out he was a Bangladeshi national after his arrest.

The 54-year-old actor has suffered six stab injuries, one of them near his spine, in the shocking attack. Police have said the knife used in the attack broke into three pieces, one of which is yet to be found. One of the shards has been recovered from Mr Khan’s body.

Police also told the court that they suspect that Shariful has hidden the clothes he wore that day because they had blood stains after his fight with Mr Khan. They said the clothes need to be recovered so that blood samples could be matched. 

The public prosecutor said the accused was aware of the fact that the Bandra locality where Saif Ali Khan lives with his family was home to several celebrities and tight security was in place. Despite this, he managed to break into the actor’s house, police said, stressing that the accused acted on a plan.

The lawyer representing the accused told the court that the allegations against him were false and that the matter is in focus because a celebrity has been targeted. The accused’s lawyer said he was being made a scapegoat in the high profile case.

Durg:

A man who was detained in Chhattisgarh’s Durg railway station in connection with the January 16 Saif Ali Khan attack case was released on Sunday, a police official said.

Mumbai police, earlier in the day, informed that it had arrested a 30-year-old man from Thane near the metropolis in the case.

“The man detained from the Mumbai LTT-Kolkata Shalimar Jnaneshwari Express at Durg station on Saturday afternoon was just a suspect and he has been released after inquiry. He was kept at the RPF post at Durg station through the night and released this morning,” the police official said.

“We can detain anyone for inquiry. We had been insisting he was just a suspect. There has been no mistake on our part. We had told the media that we would share authentic details but some went ahead and declared him an accused,” Mumbai police sub inspector Pradeep Fude told reporters at Dug railway station.

Incidentally, RPF officials here had on Saturday said the man was detained after his photo was sent to them by Mumbai police.

A Mumbai police team led by Funde had arrived here last night to question the detained man.

Mumbai police on Sunday said it had arrested alleged attacker Mohammad Shariful Islam Shehzad, a Bangladeshi national who had illegally entered India and changed his name to Bijoy Das.

As per preliminary probe, he had entered the Bollywood star’s home, in Satguru Sharan building in Bandra, in the early hours of January 16 with the intention of theft, police said in the metropolis.

Khan (54) was stabbed multiple times in the attack, after which he underwent a five-hour surgery in nearby Lilavati Hospital. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Mumbai:

Kareena Kapoor Khan recalled the attack on actor and husband Saif Ali Khan at their Bandra residence during the early hours of Thursday, saying that she saw the intruder stab Mr Khan repeatedly. Ms Kapoor was recording her statement with the Bandra Police.

“The attacker was aggressive. I saw him attack Saif repeatedly…Our priority was to take Saif to the hospital,” she told the police.

The actor further mentioned that the attacker ran from the spot and did not take any valuables with him.

According to her, Mr Khan was trying to protect their children Taimur and Jehangir (also known as Jeh). When the attacker could not reach Jeh, he attacked Mr Khan multiple times, she said.

Hours after the incident, terrified Ms Kapoor went to her sister Karisma’s house and Mr Khan underwent surgery.

“After the attack, I was terrified, so Karisma took me to her house,” she said.

Also Read | Dark Skin, Slim Build: Nanny Describes Intruder Who Attacked Saif Ali Khan

Mr Khan sustained serious injuries after he was stabbed six times by an intruder at his residence in Mumbai’s Bandra area on Thursday. The incident took place when the accused allegedly entered Mr Khan’s house on the 11th floor of the Satguru Sharan building for a burglary. Left bleeding after the attack, Mr Khan was rushed to a nearby hospital where he underwent surgery as his spinal fluid leaked out after shards of the attacker’s knife lodged into his spine.

Doctors at the Lilavati Hospital – where Mr Khan is undergoing treatment – said that Mr Khan is recovering well post-surgery. He is likely to be discharged in a couple of days, sources said.

What initial investigation revealed

According to preliminary investigation, the attacker’s breaking in at Mr Khan’s house lasted for nearly 30 minutes. Police sources said that the intruder had scaled the wall of an adjacent compound to enter the premises. He was 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 and entered the house through the fire escape, they added.

A nurse caring for Jeh Eliyama Philips was the first one to encounter the intruder who stabbed Mr Khan. According to her, he demanded Rs 1 crore before Mr Khan intervened.

Two CCTV footage have emerged so far showing the man who stabbed Mr Khan.

Also Read | New Videos Emerge Of Saif Ali Khan’s Attacker, He’s Seen Buying Headphones

In one of the videos, the accused – who had his face covered and was carrying a bag – can be seen climbing the stairs before entering the actor’s house. In another footage from the building’s sixth floor, the intruder was seen taking the stairs while fleeing after the incident. He was not seen thereafter.

Over 30 statements recorded, no arrests yet

The Mumbai police have recorded statements of over 30 people in connection with the attack, including a carpenter who worked at Mr Khan’s place two days before the incident. One person was also detained on Friday, but released hours later as he had nothing to do with the attack, police said.

No arrest has been made so far in the case.

The cops have formed 20 teams, along with 10 teams from the Crime Branch, to investigate the case. CCTV footage from the Bandra area has also been seized.

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.