Mumbai Police arrest Bangladeshi national who stabbed Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan in a failed robbery bid

Mumbai Police on Jan 19 said that they have arrested the attacker, a Bangladeshi national, who stabbed Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan on Jan 16 night at his Bandra home in a failed robbery bid.

The police said the accused Mohammad Shariful Islam Shahzad, 30, who does not have any valid Indian identity proof had changed his name to Vijay Das after entering India to hide his Bangladeshi origins.

Addressing reporters, Deputy Commissioner of Police Dixit Gedam said, “We arrested the accused from Thane last night. He has been identified as Mohammad Islam and is of Bangladeshi origin.”

“We have applied sections of the Passport Act against him after he could not produce any proof to show he was Indian, and we found some proof to show he is Bangladeshi.” Gedam added.

The officer said that the accused did not have any prior criminal record and was unaware that he was attempting to commit robbery at the residence of Saif Ali Khan.

An officer was quoted as saying that the police identified the suspect on Jan 18 evening, after which they started tracking his phone number. Previously, the police had been in the dark about his identity, but CCTV footage from Dadar helped them regain their direction in the investigation.

In the footage from a mobile shop, he was seen purchasing a mobile cover. The police then continued to track him through CCTV and located his residence in the Worli Koliwada area, where he was sharing a room with five others.

Based on their inquiries and his mobile records, the police discovered that he had visited a labour camp in Thane. Additionally, another team identified a contractor named Pandey, who had hired the accused a few months earlier, a police officer said.

At least 20 teams arrived at the location and began searching for the suspect. However, he fled the scene and turned off his mobile phone around 10 pm on Jan 19.

Around 100 officers from the Mumbai Police also gathered at the site to continue the search for him.

A team led by DCP Navnath Dhawale successfully located the suspect hiding in the mangroves and apprehended him. He was later formally arrested. The accused arrived in Mumbai nearly six months ago and had been working at a bar in Thane, which he left just a week prior in search of new employment, the police said.

Stabbing case history

In the early morning of Jan 16, between 2 am and 2.30 am , a man allegedly broke into actor Khan’s 11th-floor apartment in Bandra, injured the family’s nanny, and then attacked Khan with a knife, stabbing him six times before escaping.

Khan, who was bleeding heavily, was taken to Lilavati Hospital by his family in an autorickshaw, where he underwent surgery.

According to senior doctors, he is currently stable and out of danger.

On Jan 17, the Mumbai police detained a man in connection with the investigation into the Saif Ali Khan attack case. He was taken to the Bandra police station for questioning. However, he was released after five hours because the police found he had no link to the case.

According to police sources, he was picked up due to his resemblance to the accused, who was captured on CCTV at Khan’s building and had a history of petty crimes.

On Jan 18, a 31-year-old man was detained from a train in Durg, Chhattisgarh, in connection with the attack. The police then said that the suspect detained in Durg did not appear to be the accused, but a police verification team was still sent to Chhattisgarh.