New Delhi:

Md Ruhul Amin Fakir, father of Mohammed Shariful Islam, the man accused in the recent attack on Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan, spoke exclusively with IANS on Thursday. He defended his son and called into question the allegations. Mr Fakir insisted his son had been wrongfully implicated in the incident.

According to Mr Fakir, the images from CCTV footage showing a suspect with long hair do not match his son’s usual appearance. “From what is shown in the CCTV… my son never keeps his hair long. I believe my son is being framed,” Mr Fakir asserted, denying any connection between his son’s typical appearance and the person seen in the footage.

Shariful, who is from Bangladesh, had moved to India due to the political unrest in his home country.

To a question from IANS, Mr Fakir explained: “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…”

Mr Fakir went on to describe his son’s life in India, painting a picture of a man simply trying to make a living in a foreign country.

“The salary in Mumbai’s hotels is higher than in West Bengal. The hotels there are quite large, and the salary is also higher,” Mr Fakir noted, suggesting that Shariful moved to Mumbai for better job prospects in the hospitality industry.

Despite the gravity of the accusations against his son, Fakir insists that he hasn’t received any communication from the police.

Asked if the local police had contacted him, he said: “No, nothing like that has happened. No one has come from anywhere. We don’t know anyone in India. We have no support in India.”

Mr Fakir reflected on his last conversation with Shariful, recalling their regular exchanges.

“My last conversation with my son was on a Friday evening,” he said. “He (Shariful) used to get his salary after the 10th of every month… After that, he would talk to me.”

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

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.

Bollywood actor Kareena Kapoor at the Lilavati Hospital where actor Saif Ali Khan was admitted after he was injured in an attack by an intruder with a knife, in Mumbai
| Photo Credit: PTI

Saif Ali Khan’s wife and actress Kareena Kapoor Khan has informed the police that the intruder who entered their house in Mumbai got aggressive during the scuffle but did not touch jewellery kept in the open, an official said on Saturday (January 18, 2025).

The police recorded the actress’s statement following the attack at the Bollywood star couple’s apartment in Bandra in the early hours of Thursday, the official said.

An intruder attacked Khan (54) after entering his 12th-floor apartment in the Satguru Sharan building. The actor sustained multiple stab wounds, including on his neck, and was rushed to Lilavati Hospital, where he underwent emergency surgery.

The official said Kareena, in her statement, said the intruder got very aggressive during the scuffle with Saif, stabbing him multiple times. He, however, did not touch the jewellery kept in the open.

He said the police are yet to record Khan’s statement.

After the incident, Kareena’s sister, actress Karishma Kapoor, took her to her residence in Khar, the official said.

The police have formed more than 30 teams to trace the attacker, who remains at large more than 48 hours after the incident.

Mumbai:

A new CCTV footage has emerged showing the man who stabbed Saif Ali Khan climbing the stairs before entering the actor’s house yesterday. The footage – time-stamped 1:37 am – shows the intruder advancing cautiously so as not to alert any of the residents of the 12-story building. He had his face covered and was carrying a bag.

In another footage from the building’s sixth floor, which emerged yesterday, the intruder was seen taking the stairs while fleeing after the incident. He was not seen thereafter. It is suspected he had used the fire shaft to escape after that, the same way he had come upstairs.

There was no sign of the intruder in the CCTV footage in the lobby area, suggesting he did not use the main gate to enter and exit the building. Sources said he had scaled the wall of an adjacent building to enter ‘Satguru Sharan’ compound. The actor’s home spreads over four floors in the building in the posh Bandra locality.

The cops suspect he may have changed clothes to avoid being caught while fleeing the scene. Sources said he was spotted near the Bandra railway station after the incident.

Read: “If Knife Was 2 mm Deeper…”: Doctors Say Saif Ali Khan Out Of ICU

The intruder was first spotted in Mr Khan’s younger son Jeh’s room by his nanny. She confronted him, but couldn’t stop him, while another house help alerted Mr Khan. The actor then tried to fight off the intruder but was attacked with a knife. With six stab injuries, including one on his neck and another near his spine, he was rushed to the nearby Lilavati Hospital and was operated on.

A senior doctor at the hospital told reporters today that the actor is recovering well and has been shifted out of the ICU. He would have sustained a severe injury if the knife had gone in 2 mm deeper, said Dr Niraj Uttamani, the Chief Operating Officer at Lilavati.

Read: “Don’t Make Noise”: Intruder Who Stabbed Saif Ali Khan Told Nannies Before Attack

The police have detained a suspect for questioning. Not much is known about the suspect despite a facial similarity between him and the suspect caught on the CCTV.

The attack has raised questions over the role of the security guards in the posh area. It has also fuelled Opposition salvo over the law-and-order situation in the city.

Mumbai Police has registered a case of robbery, trespassing, and causing grievous hurt.