Mumbai:

Days after insurance provider Niva Bupa swiftly approved a medical insurance claim from actor Saif Ali Khan’s family after the shocking attack on him, an organisation of medical professionals has written to insurance regulator IRDAI, questioning celebrities’ “preferential treatment”.

Following the knife attack on Mr Khan during a burglary attempt at his Mumbai home, a document of his mediclaim approval emerged on social media. According to the document, a cashless request of nearly Rs 36 lakh had been placed for the actor’s five-day stay. In its initial approval, the insurance provider had cleared a payout of Rs 25 lakh. Niva Bupa confirmed receiving the pre-authorisation request and said further claims would be processed as per guidelines.

The Mumbai-based Association of Medical Consultants, which says it represents over 14,000 medical practitioners and has branches in several cities, has written to the chairman of IRDAI — Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India — on the cashless clearance for Mr Khan’s treatment.

“We are writing to express our concern and dissatisfaction regarding the recent news of Mr Saif Ali Khan being sanctioned Rs 25 lakhs for cashless treatment under his insurance policy, which seems to be a preferential treatment compared to the benefits available to the common policyholders,” the organisation has said in a statement.

“This instance highlights a troubling trend where celebrities and high-profile individuals and patients with corporate policies receive favorable terms and higher cashless treatment limits, while ordinary citizens struggle with insufficient coverage and low reimbursement rates,” it has said.

The Association of Medical Consultants has said such practices create an “unfair disparity”. “We believe Insurance should be a safeguard for all, irrespective of social status. Preferential treatment based on celebrity status creates a two-tier system, which is discriminatory against ordinary policyholders. There is a need for greater transparency in how insurance claims and cashless treatment limits are determined,” it has said.

The organisation has requested IRDAI to probe the matter and ensure that all policyholders, regardless of social status, are treated equally. It has also demanded guidelines to prevent preferential treatment and enhance transparency in mediclaim approvals.

Mr Khan was admitted to Mumbai’s Lilavati Hospital on January 16 after he suffered six stab injuries during a fight with an intruder who had broken into his home to commit robbery. One of his injuries was on the spine and the knife missed his spinal cord by just 2 mm, doctors have said. Mr Khan has been operated upon for his back injury and wounds on his arm and neck. He was discharged last week and has been advised bed rest for a week.

Mumbai:

Mumbai Police has collected blood samples of actor Saif Ali Khan and the clothes he was wearing on January 16 in connection with the case related to the knife attack on him. Besides, the clothes the accused, Mohammad Shariful Islam Shehzad, was wearing on the day of the crime were also seized.

The accused’s clothes have blood spots which will be matched with the actor’s blood samples, police sources said.

Blood samples and clothes of the actor and the accused have been sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) to find out whether the blood on the accused’s clothes was that of the actor.

On Friday, Saif Ali Khan recorded his statement with the Mumbai Police in which he said that the accused demanded Rs 1 crore and attacked the nanny, and when he tried to stop him, Shehzad escaped after stabbing him multiple times.

The actor suffered stab injuries after the intruder entered his home for an apparent burglary through a duct. A preliminary investigation had established that the accused broke into the apartment with the motive of robbery.

Shehzad, who had illegally entered India from Bangladesh last year, was arrested from Thane near Mumbai on January 19.

Fingerprints collected from Saif Ali Khan’s Bandra flat matched those of Shehzad’s, the police said.

However, Shehzad’s father, Md Ruhul Amin Fakir, told IANS that the person captured in the CCTV footage from Saif Ali Khan’s home does not resemble his son.

The incident has drawn reactions from political bigwigs and the Bollywood industry. While those in Bollywood wished the actor a quick recovery and expressed concern over the security situation, Opposition leaders used it to attack the Mahayuti government.

Adding fuel to the controversy, Maharashtra Ports and Fisheries Minister Nitesh Rane has raised serious doubts over the attack on Saif Ali Khan, asking if he was stabbed with a knife or was it just an act.

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

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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Mumbai:

Bangladesh national Shariful Islam Shehzad, who allegedly broke into actor Saif Ali Khan’s home to commit robbery and stabbed him multiple times during a fight, wanted to flee to his home country after the incident, police have found.

According to police sources, Shariful had planned to first travel to Howrah near Kolkata and then proceed to Bangladesh when he realised that police were after him. He tried to arrange for a train ticket to Howrah, but travel agents demanded more money because of the short notice. Before he could get his hands on a ticket, Shariful was arrested from Thane.

Cops are now tracking down all the travel agents he spoke to question them as part of the investigation into the high-profile case. The actor, who has suffered six stab injuries in the shocking attack, returned home yesterday after he was discharged from the hospital. Doctors, it is learnt, have advised him bed rest for a week and asked him not to receive any visitor now to prevent infection.

Cops Piece Together Sequence Of Events

Mumbai Police, which was left red-faced after the late-night attack in an area home to several celebrities, is going all out to get to the root of the case at the earliest. A police team took Shariful to the actor’s Bandra home yesterday to recreate the crime.

Police have found that on Wednesday night, the intruder scaled wall of the compound to approach the 12-storeyed building the actor lives in. He found the security guards of the building asleep. He then used the back staircase and air-conditioning duct to enter Mr Khan’s home through a window in one of the bathrooms. Shariful has told police that he had removed his shoes and kept them in his bag to prevent any noise. He had also switched off his phone.

Mr Khan and his house helps managed to lock Shariful into a room after the stabbing, but he escaped through the air-conditioning duct and fled down the stairs.

Police have found Shariful’s face cover from the room of Mr Khan’s younger son Jahangir, where the actor and the intruder had clashed. This face cover is being sent for forensic testing.

What Happened That Night

Eliyama Philip, a nanny for Saif’s sons, has told the police that she was the first to spot the intruder. The 56-year-old has said she was woken up by some noises around 2 am. She saw the bathroom door open and the light on and assumed that Kareena Kapoor Khan was checking on 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 has 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 escaped, she has said.

How Accused Was Caught

Police formed 30 teams to track down the accused. The cops scanned CCTV footage of the building and noticed the suspect leaving after the attack. Several hours of footage from across the city were scanned to find a match. During this tenuous exercise, cops found footage from DN Nagar in Andheri. They saw the suspect getting off a bike and tracked down the two-wheeler using its number.

Parallelly, following local intelligence inputs, police zeroed in on a rented accommodation at Koliwada in Worli, where the accused lived with three others. A police team questioned the people living there. They managed to get the suspect’s name and related information. Police also got his phone number and used it to track his location. The accused had been hiding in a thicket on a deserted road in Thane. Police surrounded him from all sides and then took him into custody.

After his arrest, they found that he was a Bangladesh national who had illegally crossed into India months back.

Saif Ali Khan returned home from hospital

Saif Now Back Home

The 54-year-old actor returned home after spending five days at Lilavati Hospital, where he was admitted after the chilling attack. Mr Khan was captured waving to the media and his fans before entering home last afternoon. The actor suffered six stab injuries, one of them on his back. The knife, doctors have said, missed his spinal cord by just 2 mm. His spinal fluid had started leaking and a surgery was done to fix that. The actor also suffered injuries on his face and arm and has undergone plastic surgery. Doctors have said he is recovering well but advised him rest for now. Mr Khan is expected to record a statement with police now that he is back home.

Mumbai:

Police on Sunday said they have arrested a Bangladeshi national for stabbing Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan at his Mumbai residence. Preliminary investigation suggests the man – Shariful Islam Shehzad Mohammad Rohilla Amin Fakir – was unaware that he had entered Mr Khan’s house and his intention was theft, a senior police official told reporters after his arrest.

Saif Ali Khan was stabbed six times, including in his neck, at his apartment in the posh Bandra West neighbourhood early Thursday morning.

What We Know About Man Who Stabbed Saif Ali Khan

Shariful Islam Shehzad Mohammad Rohilla, 30, was arrested from Hiranandani Estate on Ghodbandar Road in neighbouring Thane district. Police said he entered India illegally and had been living in Mumbai for the past four months.

He changed his name to Bijoy Das after entering India.

Rohilla is a bachelor and used to work at a housekeeping agency. He, however, was unemployed for some months.

He used to live in a rented house with some friends in Mumbai’s Worli.

Attack On Saif Ali Khan

Saif Ali Khan was stabbed multiple times and was rushed to the city’s Lilavati Hospital in an autorickshaw where he underwent emergency surgery.

The 54-year-old 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 their 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.

A 2.5-inch piece of the blade was removed from Mr Khan’s spine after a five-hour-long surgery. He is recovering well, doctors treating him said Friday.

Mumbai Police had formed about 30 teams to arrest the accused, who was also captured on CCTV cameras in the building.

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.

Mumbai:

The man who stabbed Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan at his Mumbai residence early Thursday morning had also threatened his domestic staff before the alleged attack. In a police statement, Mr Khan’s domestic staff said the knife-wielding attacker – who is on the run and was seen near the Bandra railway station hours after the incident – also demanded a ransom of Rs 1 crore.

Saif Ali Khan was stabbed six times, including in his neck, at his apartment in the posh Bandra West neighbourhood around 2:30 am. He is said to be out of danger following an emergency surgery at the Lilavati Hospital where he was reportedly rushed by one of his sons – Ibrahim Ali Khan – in an auto-rickshaw after his car was delayed.

Eliyama Philip – a nurse caring for Mr Khan’s four-year-old son Jehangir (also known as Jeh) – and another staffer were also injured in the attack.

Intruder Enters Saif Ali Khan’s House

Saif Ali Khan and his family members – his wife and fellow actor Kareena Kapoor, and their two sons, Jeh and eight-year-old Taimur – were home in the 12-floor apartment along with their five house helps when the attacker entered the house.

In a statement to the police, Ms Philip, who claimed she has been with the Khan household for four years, 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.

A view of the 12-storey building, Satguru Sharan, in which Saif Ali Khan was attacked
Photo Credit: ANI

She 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.

Ms Philip said 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”,” 56-year-old Philip recalled in her police statement.

Saif Ali Khan’s Encounter With Intruder

Hearing Ms Philip’s scream, Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor Khan rushed out of their room. When Mr Khan asked him “what do you want?”, he attacked him with a wooden object and the hexa blade, Ms Philip said in her police statement.

“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.

According to police sources, the intruder – who entered the actor’s home to commit burglary – had scaled the wall of an adjacent compound to enter the premises. Officials said the intruder 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.

He then entered Mr Khan’s home through the fire escape.

Mumbai Police has formed 20 teams to arrest the accused, who was captured on CCTV cameras on the sixth floor while fleeing.

Mumbai:

The man who stabbed Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan – at his home in Mumbai’s posh Bandra West neighbourhood early Thursday morning – demanded a ransom of Rs 1 crore, police sources told NDTV this evening, citing a statement by a member of Mr Khan’s domestic staff. The staffer – a nurse caring for Mr Khan’s four-year-old son Jehangir, said the knife-wielding attacker first entered the boy’s room.

Three people – Saif Ali Khan, 54, the nurse, and another staffer – were injured in the attack that followed the demand. Mr Khan was stabbed six times, resulting in injuries to his spinal cord. He was rushed to the city’s Lilavati Hospital – by his son Ibrahim in an auto-rickshaw after his car was delayed. 

The actor’s medical condition is now stable, doctors have said. Follow LIVE UPDATES HERE.

Mr Khan and his family – wife and fellow actor Kareena Kapoor Khan and their sons – live in an apartment – spread over four floors – in a twelve-storey building in Bandra West.

READ | Saif Ali Khan’s Attacker Seen On CCTV In Building Staircase

Earlier today police sources told NDTV the attacker – who was looking to burgle the apartment – entered the compound via an adjacent. He was spotted in CCTV footage from a stairwell in the actor’s home; he can be seen in a t-shirt and jeans, with an orange scarf on his shoulder.

The nurse caring for Jehangir, Eliyama Phillipes, who has been with the Khan household for four years, was the first to spot the intruder. She told the police she had been woken by noises in the house early Thursday morning; this was around 2 am, she said, three hours after Jehangir had been put to bed.

She said she saw the bathroom door ajar and the light on, and first assumed Kareena 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.”

At this point she confronted him – he responded by pointed his finger at himself and said, in Hindi, ‘don’t make a sound’ – and he demanded the Rs 1 crore.

And when she tried to fight him off, the 56-year-old suffered injuries to her wrists and hands. According to her statement, she then screamed, which alerted Mr Khan who also tried to fight off the intruder.

READ | Maid Saw Intruder, Screamed, Saif Fought Him: What Happened?

He was stabbed six times in that fight, and a two-and-a-half inch fragment of the knife broke off and lodged in his spine. Doctors said he sustained “severe injuries to the thoracic spinal cord… two other deep wounds on his left hand and one on his neck were repaired by plastic surgery…”

READ | “Stabbed In Spine, Neck, And Hand”: Doctors Say Saif Out Of Danger

The third person injured was a maid called Geeta.

The police have registered a case under sections of robbery, trespassing, and “grievous hurt caused while committing lurking house-trespass”. The suspect has not yet been arrested.

The attack has thrown up tough questions about the response of the security guards on duty at the high-profile building, and how the intruder managed to enter the actor’s home undetected.

It has also triggered a predictable political squabble, with the BJP-led state government under fire from the opposition and members of the film fraternity. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis – who is also the Home Minister – called the attack ‘unfortunate’, but denied talk of Mumbai being unsafe.

READ | “Mumbai Not Unsafe”: Devendra Fadnavis After Saif Ali Khan Attack

This followed jabs from Shiv Sena (ex-Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s faction) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi, who declared, “If celebrities are not safe, who in Mumbai is?”

Meanwhile, Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal and Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also joined the list of opposition figures targeting the BJP on this issue. 

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Mumbai:

Nearly 12 hours after the life-threatening attack on actor Saif Ali Khan at his Bandra home, Mumbai police have identified a suspect, sources have said. The suspect entered the premises of the actor’s home from the adjacent building after scaling the wall in between, sources in the crime branch said. The police also suspect that one of Mr Khan’s house helps knew the attacker and gave him entry into the house. This help is now being questioned as Mumbai Police tries to get to the bottom of the shocking attack on the 54-year-old actor in one of the poshest areas of the Maximum City.

The actor has suffered six stab injuries, one of them near his spine, and has been operated upon at Lilavati Hospital. He is reportedly out of danger.

Mumbai Police, left red-faced after the shock attack on the actor during a burglary attempt, has said they are investigating the incident. “An unidentified person intruded in the residence of Actor Saif Ali Khan. The actor and the intruder had a scuffle. The actor is injured and is being treated. Investigation is going on,” police said.

CCTV cameras at Saif Ali Khan’s home did not capture anyone entering the premises within two hours before the attack, meaning that whoever attacked the actor had entered the building earlier and had been waiting to strike. Police are scanning CCTV footage to identify the attacker, who fled after stabbing the actor.

The Opposition has hit out at the Devendra Fadnavis government in Maharashtra, questioning the law and order situation of the Maximum City if even celebrities are not safe.

Targeting the state government on Mumbai’s law and order situation, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi said, “What a shame that Mumbai sees another high-profile attempt on life, the attack on Saif Ali Khan yet again raises questions on Mumbai Police and the Home Minister. This is after a series of incidents that show there is a deliberate attempt to undermine Mumbai by targeting big names.”

Ms Chaturvedi also brought up the attack that killed veteran politician Baba Siddique and the firing outside actor Salman Khan’s home.

“Baba Siddique ji’s family is still awaiting justice after his shocking murder. Salman Khan forced to live in a bulletproof house. Now it is Saif Ali Khan All in Bandra. An area which has the highest concentration of celebrities, which is supposed to have adequate security. If celebrities are not safe then who in Mumbai is? Wishing Saif Ali Khan a speedy recovery,” Ms Chaturvedi said.

Actor Pooja Bhatt has strongly responded to the attack on her colleague.

Taking to social media platform X, the 52-year-old actor posted multiple tweets, demanding more police presence in Bandra. She tagged Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, his deputies Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar and minister Ashish Shelar drawing their attention to the issue.

“Can this lawlessness please be curbed @MumbaiPolice @CPMumbaiPolice. We need more Police presence in Bandra. The city and especially the queen of the subburbs, have never felt so unsafe before,” Ms Bhatt said. “Law & Order. We have laws.. what about order?” she added.

Mumbai:

Sniffer dogs have been deployed and security has been increased outside the building in which actor Saif Ali Khan stays with his family after a knife attack left the actor with six wounds early this morning. Mr Khan was stabbed after he confronted an intruder during an alleged burglary attempt at his house. The intruder fled after the attack and the actor was rushed to Lilavati hospital. He is now out of danger.

Read: Saif Ali Khan Attacked With Knife At Home, Stabbed Near Spine

While initial information suggested an unauthorized entry into the house, no one was captured on CCTV cameras entering the premises within two hours before the attack. It is now suspected that the attacker was related to one of the house helps who helped him enter the house and that he may have been hiding inside the building, said sources.

Follow updates on Saif Ali Khan stabbing

A Mumbai Police team is at the ‘Satguru Sharan’ building probing the attack that has left the film world in shock with opposition parties in Maharashtra questioning the law and order situation in the financial capital. The crime branch has formed seven teams to search for the suspect. Three teams are scouring different areas of the city while one team is going through CCTV footage for any lead. A crime branch team is also on standby to go out of Mumbai if needed.

Read: Saif Ali Khan’s House Help Knew His Attacker, Let Him In, Suspect Cops

In a statement hours after the attack, the actor’s team said he was injured in the attack, but his family was doing fine. They have also asked the media and his fans to be patient.

Out of the six stab injuries, two were deep wounds and one is near his spine, said doctors treating him.

Mr Khan underwent a two-hour surgery and is now in the recovery room of the operation theatre. He will be shifted to the deluxe suite on the hospital’s VIP floor once he is brought out of the operation theatre.