A man arrested on Sunday in connection with the January 16 attack on Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan was reportedly in Bandra till 7 am on the day of the incident, having spent the night sleeping at a bus stop, according to police sources.
Mohammad Shariful Islam Shehzad, a Bangladeshi citizen who had entered India illegally and was operating under the name Bijoy Das, had been arrested earlier in Thane, on the outskirts of Mumbai. Police officials said he had entered Khan’s flat in the Satguru Sharan building in the wee hours of January 16 with an intention to steal.
According to the police, Shehzad waited till morning at a bus stop near Patwardhan Garden and boarded a train for Worli in central Mumbai. The investigations also revealed that he reached the actor’s apartment by using the staircase up to the seventh or eighth floor, from where he climbed through the duct area and then reached the 12th floor by using a pipe. He gained entrance into Khan’s flat through a bathroom window, only to be confronted by the actor’s staff soon after, leading to a chaotic encounter.
The police officer said Shehzad tried to ransom Rs 1 crore from the nanny who was present in the house. This was when Khan intervened and in a state of surprise, the suspect stabbed him on the back and ran. Khan locked the door and believed that he trapped the intruder inside, whereas Shehzad escaped from the same door by which he gained entry.
Several objects that were found in Shehzad’s bag include a hammer, screwdriver, and nylon rope; all these pointed at his past criminal records. It is identified that the accused came to know that he had attacked a Bollywood star only when he saw coverage about the attack on TV channels and social media.
The investigation became further complicated when it was found that a detection officer from the Bandra police station had taken the CCTV digital video recorder from Khan’s building, which had not been shared with the Mumbai Crime Branch, thus giving time to Shehzad to escape.
Shehzad, originally from Jhalokathi district in southern Bangladesh, had been in Mumbai for the past five months, during which he took on various menial jobs, including work with a housekeeping agency. He faces charges under multiple sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, including robbery with intent to cause grievous harm and house-breaking, as well as violations of the Passport Act.
A thorough investigation is on into how Shehzad entered India illegally, the documents he possesses and how he acquired them. After his appearance in Bandra court, he was remanded in police custody till January 24. The court said an international conspiracy vis-a-vis the incident could not be ruled out and ordered further probe into the motive behind the attack.
On January 16, Saif Ali Khan was brutally attacked several times with a knife inside his 12th-floor apartment-a ghastly crime that has sent shock waves across the Hindi film industry into the wider world outside.
