Saif Ali Khan Attack| Court Grants Police 5-Day Custody of Accused: What We Know

Saif Ali Khan was attacked by an intruder in his Bandra house on 16 January.

On Thursday (16 January), after the attack on Saif Ali Khan, Mumbai police had released the first visuals of the accused. 

(Photo Courtesy: Instagram/ X)

Three days after an intruder attacked actor Saif Ali Khan at his Bandra home, the Mumbai Police, on Sunday, 19 January, arrested the prime accused in the case. The police identified the accused as 30-year-old Mohammad Shariful Islam.

At a press briefing, Dixit Gedam, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Zone 9, said, "Preliminary evidence suggests that the accused is of Bangladeshi origin. He entered India illegally and changed his name. He was using Vijay Das as an alias. He came to Mumbai 5-6 months ago. He stayed in Mumbai for a few days and then in the vicinity of Mumbai. The accused used to work in a housekeeping agency."

The accused allegedly admitted to the crime, saying, "Haan, maine hi kiya (Yes, I did it)," a police official told The Indian Express.

Saif Ali Khan was discharged from Lilavati Hospital on Tuesday (21 January) and Mumbai police arrived at his residence the next day to reportedly record his statement.

‘Accused Stabbed Actor in the Back To Free Himself From His Grip,’ Say Cops

The accused reportedly told police that he stabbed the actor in the back in an attempt to escape from his grip.

“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,” a police officer told PTI. 

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

According to a report in Indian Express, the accused allegedly entered India by crossing the Dawki river and then travelled to West Bengal where he used a resident’s Aadhar card to get a SIM card before moving to Mumbai in search of employment. 

Citing police sources, the report claimed that the SIM card was registered under the name ‘Khukumoni Jahangir Sekh’ and it is believed that his Aadhar card was used to procure it.  

Accused 'Wanted to Steal From Someone Rich to Help His Ailing Mother': Report 

According to the cops, the accused chose Khan’s residence at random because he ‘wanted to steal from someone rich and escape to Bangladesh with the loot to help his ailing mother’, Times of India reported. 

The report quoted a police official as saying, “The immediate provocation for the crime was that Shariful lost a housekeeping job at a Thane restaurant on Dec 15 when its contract with the manpower agency owned by Jitendra Pandey ended. He found himself nearly penniless. He said as much.”

Islam reportedly worked at a restaurant in Worli for a salary of Rs 130000 per month before joining a restaurant in Thane. He would send Rs 12000 for his mother’s treatment keeping the rest for himself, the report stated.

'Custodial Interrogation is Needed': Mumbai Court Grants 5-Day Custody 

In the remand application filed in a Bandra court, the police sought custody of the accused for 14-days, according to a report in Indian Express.

Granting 5-day custody instead, Magistrate KK Patil said that 'custodial interrogation is needed' in the case, "I find that there are serious allegations against the accused for non-bailable offences. And at this stage, it can be said that the angle of international conspiracy is not impossible, hence custodial interrogation is needed."

The police application alleged that custodial interrogation was necessary to determine if the accused acted alone or was instigated to commit the crime and uncover how he obtained Khan’s address, the report stated. 

Details about his arrival to and subsequent stay in India need to be looked into as well, cops said.

On Sunday, Inspector Sudarshan Gaikwad, an investigation officer in the case, alleged in the holiday court that the accused is ‘hiding details about the third part of the knife used in the crime’, adding that the first two parts of the weapon were recovered from the actor’s neck and from the crime scene respectively. 

Sources in the Mumbai police told The Indian Express that they have found 19 fingerprints allegedly belonging to Islam at the crime scene. The fingerprints were reportedly lifted from the bathroom window, the duct shaft, and the ladder near it. 

‘Suspect Does Not Have Valid Indian Documents, Believed to Be a Bangladeshi National’: DCP

DCP Gedam told the media that the accused appears to be a Bangladeshi national and doesn't have any "valid Indian documents".

"He does not have valid Indian documents. There are some seizures that indicate that he is a Bangladeshi national...As of now, we think that the accused has entered the residence (of Saif Ali Khan) for the first time," DCP Gedam said.

Based on this observation, relevant sections of the Passport Act have been applied to the case, cops said.

Accused's Advocate Claims He Has Been in Mumbai for 7 Years

The accused’s lawyer, Sandeep Shekhane, claimed that the accused has been in Mumbai for the last seven years. "Police custody for five days has been granted. The court has asked the police to submit a report within five days. The police have no proof that he is a Bangladeshi. They said that he came here six months ago, it’s a wrong statement,” he told the media.

“He has been living here for more than seven years. His family is in Mumbai," Shekhane said. The lawyer also reportedly added that the accused has denied the 'attempt to murder' allegations, as per ANI.

How Was the Suspect Apprehended? 

The cops believe that Islam scaled the compound wall of an adjacent building before entering the actor’s building through a rear staircase, NDTV reported. The first visuals the Mumbai police released of the suspect on Thursday were from the fire escape in the building. 

Islam was later seen at Bandra station and then at Dadar where he was spotted in a shop’s CCTV footage in different clothes buying a phone cover. According to Indian Express, he purchased parathas at a food stall and police recovered details of the UPI translation from the shop owner. This led them to a labour camp in Ghodbunder, Thane.

‘(Accused) Was Not Aware It Was a Film Star’s House’: Maha Deputy CM Ajit Pawar

Amid questions arising about the state of law and order in Maharashtra after the attack on Saif Ali Khan, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, on Sunday, said the accused wasn't aware he was entering a film star's house, ANI reported.

Alleging that the accused had entered the house with the intent to commit robbery, Pawar said, "Some opposition leaders have given the statement that law and order collapsed in Mumbai after the incident of attack on actor Saif Ali Khan. But the reality is the accused migrated from Bangladesh. First, he came to Kolkata, and then he had heard a lot about Mumbai, so he came to Mumbai."

"He is a thief who entered from the duct to Saif Ali Khan's residence. He was not aware that this was the house of some film star. He just entered the house with the intention of the robbery."

Ajit Pawar

What We Know of the Earlier Investigation

• During their initial investigation on Thursday, 16 January, Mumbai police released a picture of the accused from the CCTV footage of the actor's building. They believe the suspect used the fire escape to enter and exit the building.

• He was reportedly then seen at Bandra station and may have boarded a local train towards Vasai-Virar, ANI reported. Police teams reportedly launched searches in Vasai, Nalasopara, and Virar.

• While the suspect was seen in a black shirt in the CCTV footage, CCTVs in Bandra seemingly showed him near Lucky Junction dressed in a light blue shirt.

The first visuals of the suspect released by the Mumbai police from the CCTV in the actor's building.

(Photo Courtesy: X)

• The accused likely travelled to Dadar and purchased a phone cover from a shop near the station before heading towards Kabutarkhana, police sources told Indian Express.

• The accused was purportedly seen in CCTV cameras at the shop at 9.04 am on Thursday, hours after the incident in Khan's house.

The suspect was reportedly spotted at a mobile shop in Dadar on Thursday, a few hours after the attack on Saif Ali Khan.

(Photo Courtesy: X)

• On Friday, it was reported that a suspect had been detained by the Mumbai Police, but the cops later clarified that the man had no links to the attack on the actor.

• Indian Express, citing police sources, reported that the suspect was brought in because he resembled the accused, as seen on CCTV from Khan’s building. 

• On Saturday, Mumbai police headed to Durg to question a suspect who had been arrested by the Railway Protection Force (RPF).

• Officials from the RPF said that they detained a man travelling in the Jnaneshwari Express based on a photograph and a tower location shared by the Mumbai police. 

• The arrest in Thane was carried out through a joint operation conducted by DCP Zone 6 Shri Navnath Dhavale's team and the Kasarvadavali police at a labor camp in Hiranandani Estate.

• Earlier suspects detained by the cops were found to be unrelated to the case.

• According to the statement given by the family’s help Eliyama Philip, the intruder asked for Rs 1 crore and was allegedly armed with a hexa blade. Deputy Commissioner of Police, Dixit Gedam, on Thursday told the media that the accused used the fire escape to enter the house. 

• An FIR was registered under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 311 (robbery or dacoity with attempt to cause death or grievous hurt), 312 (attempt to commit robbery when armed with a dangerous weapon), 331(4), 331(6) and 331(7) that pertain to house trespassing or house breaking.

‘He Was Lucky’: What Saif Ali Khan’s Doctors Said

Khan was taken to Lilavati Hospital around 3 AM on Thursday morning. The actor sustained multiple injuries, including one in the neck, two on his hand, and one to the thoracic spinal cord. A 2.5-inch knife fragment was removed during surgery. 

On 17 January, Dr Nitin Dange, Chief Neurosurgeon Lilavati Hospital, told the media that the actor has been shifted from the ICU to the normal ward, but it was recommended that the actor restrict his movements for a few days because of a ‘risk of infection’.

Dange further said that the “sharp object had gone very deep, but it did not damage the spinal cord... he's very lucky,” adding that there’s "no risk of paralysis".

On Thursday night, actor Kareena Kapoor, told the police that the intruder was ‘very aggressive’ during the altercation with her husband, Saif Ali Khan, stabbing him multiple times. She added that jewellery kept in the open was left untouched by the intruder, Indian Express reported. 

In a post shared on Instagram on Thursday, Kapoor requested the media and the paparazzi to refrain from “relentless speculation and coverage” while appreciating the ‘concern and support’. 

“I kindly request that you respect our boundaries and give us the space we need to heal and cope as a family,” she wrote.