Kolkata:

Shariful Islam Shehzad – the illegal migrant from Bangladesh accused of stabbing Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan last week during a home invasion – is a member of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, his father, Mohammed Ruhul Amin, said Friday in a telephone conversation with NDTV.

Mr Amin said his son – whom he described as 30 years old, with a “heavy” face and long hair, and insisted is not the man Mumbai Police have arrested – fled Bangladesh in March last year.

Police sources told NDTV earlier Shehzad entered India via Meghalaya – he crossed the Dawki River – and stayed in Bengal for a few weeks before making his way to Mumbai in search of a job.

Speaking to NDTV today, his father seemed to suggest Shehzad fled to escape political persecution at the hands of the then-ruling Awami League of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who was deposed in August and is also in India. Ex-Prime Minister Khaleda Zia’s BNP was then in the opposition.

“Felt He Couldn’t Live In Bangladesh”

“My son went to India in 2024… in the last week of March or first week of April. He had only intention. For 16 years the Hasina government was in power. There were false cases… even mobile theft cases (against him). The political atmosphere was bad (and) my son felt he could not live in the country.”

“So then, at that time, he decided to go to India (to find a job),” he said.

The authorities – who say they have recovered Bangladeshi government documents confirming Shehzad’s nationality – believe he has since been living in India under the name Bijoy Das.

READ | Entered India Illegally, Changed Name: How Saif’s Attacker Hid

Asked if Shehzad fled because of the cases against him, Mr Amin said, “No, he did not.”

“There was (also) a lot of torture. There were cases against him for no crimes. My two sons and I work for the BNP… I hold a post and there were a lot of false cases (against me also).”

“Man In CCTV Footage Not My Son”

Mr Amin also insisted the man caught on CCTV cameras at Saif Ali Khan’s residence – whom the police arrested from Thane Sunday, after tracking him down thanks to a UPI payment for a paratha and some water – is not his son. “The CCTV pictures are not of my son,” he told NDTV.

READ | Paid For Paratha With UPI: How Cops Caught Saif Attack Suspect

“His age is 30. From an early age, his face is heavy, and he has hair on both sides (but it is short) … In the photo (the CCTV footage) the hair reaches till the eyes. That kind of hair is not my son’s. (So) no, it is not him,” he said, repeating what he told news agency IANS a day earlier.

(L) CCTV footage of the suspect, (R) Shariful Shehzad, accused of stabbing Saif

“… my son never keeps his hair long. I believe my son is being framed,” he had said.

READ | “Man On CCTV Doesn’t Look Like My Son’: Saif’s Attacker’s Father 

He also indicated then Shehzad worked in the hospitality industry; he noted the hotels in Mumbai were larger and paid better than in Bengal, or Kolkata, which led many to that belief.

And when NDTV asked him if police from India had informed him of his son’s arrest, he said: “No. No one has come. We don’t know anyone in India. We have no support there.”

Political Squabbles

Shehzad’s Bangladeshi nationality has also triggered a political row between the BJP-led alliance in power in Maharashtra and the opposition. This week BJP leader and Maharashtra Ports Minister Nitesh Rane suggested the attack on Mr Khan was ‘not real’, and seemed to refer to him as “garbage”. 

“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 are entering houses. Maybe he came to take him (Mr Khan) away. It is good… garbage should be taken away,” he said.

The Bangladeshi nationality angle has fed into a ongoing row between the BJP and the opposition over border security. The latter has alleged the thousands trying to cross illegally since Sheikh Hasina was overthrown are being courted by the opposition, including Bengal’s ruling Trinamool, as a vote bank.

Court Extends Police Custody

A Mumbai court, this afternoon, extended police custody of Shehzad till January 29. The court said the cops needed more time to recover crucial evidence, including some of his clothing.

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

Like his father, Shehzad’s lawyer has been equally insistent his client is innocent, and is being made a scapegoat in response to furore over the attack on a prominent celebrity living in Bandra West – one of Mumbai’s most exclusive neighbourhoods. However, according to some reports, Shehzad has confessed (which is not admissible in court), telling cops, “…haan, maine hi kiya hai (yes, I did it)”.

Saif Ali Khan suffered six stab wounds, including one near his spinal cord, in the attack, and had to be rushed into emergency surgery. He was discharged five days later and is back home.

NDTV is now available on WhatsApp channels. Click on the link to get all the latest updates from NDTV on your chat.

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)”.

NDTV is now available on WhatsApp channels. Click on the link to get all the latest updates from NDTV on your chat.