Saif Ali Khan attacker arrested in Thane, Mumbai cops to question him, accused admitted the crime

PTI, MUMBAI, JAN 18: Two days after Bollywood star Saif Ali Khan was stabbed at his Mumbai home during a robbery bid, a 31-year-old suspect was on Saturday detained at the Durg railway station in Chhattisgarh, officials said.

The person, whose photo had been shared by Mumbai Police with the Railway Protection Force (RPF), was traveling by the Jnaneshwari Express, which runs between Mumbai Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (LTT) and Kolkata Shalimar.

Aakash Kailash Kannojia, the detained man, was "still a suspect," Mumbai police said in a statement later, adding that further action would be taken after due verification.

Earlier on Friday, a carpenter had been held as he resembled the screengrab of the suspected assailant from the CCTV footage at the actor's building, but he was released later as he was found to have no link to the crime.

(Agencies: Mumbai Police successfully arrested Mohammad Sariful islam Shehzad, 30 yrs, the prime suspect in the stabbing attack on Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan, early Sunday in Thane, Maharashtra. The arrest marks the culmination of an intense manhunt involving multiple police teams across different states.  

The attacker,  confessed to entering the actor's house and committing the crime. The attacker, who also worked at a pub in Thane, was arrested at a labour camp near a metro construction site at the Hiranandani Estate in the city. Officials at the Vile Parle police station in Mumbai had made a breakthrough in making the arrest.

Police said the accused had multiple names like Bijoy Das, Vijay Das, Mohammad Illyas and BJ. According to police sources, the accused is a resident of Nadia, West Bengal. Police brought Mohammad Shehzad to Bandra to question him in connection with the case. He will be produced before the court for police remand this morning. 

The police further said that the accused had been working at different places in Mumbai and Thane for the last seven-eight months. Days before the arrest, he had been working at a construction site with a contractor, the police said.

After the attack on Saif Ali Khan, the accused was constantly watching news channels and tracking news, police said, adding that he had also switched off his phone fearing arrest.

Police are also investigating whether the attacker is an Indian or a Bangladeshi national by having a fake Indian identity.

The Mumbai Police is likely to hold a press conference at 9 am to give more details about the arrest.

The incident occurred on January 16 at Khan’s Bandra West residence when the 54-year-old actor confronted an intruder attempting a break-in during the early hours of the morning. 

According to reports, the assailant first entered the room of the actor’s youngest son, Jehangir (Jeh) Khan. The house staff spotted the intruder and raised an alarm, prompting Saif Ali Khan and his wife, actress Kareena Kapoor Khan, to intervene. 

A violent scuffle ensued, during which Khan sustained multiple stab wounds, including serious injuries to his neck and spine. He was rushed to Lilavati Hospital in an autorickshaw for emergency surgery. Doctors have since confirmed that the actor is out of danger and recovering well.

The suspect, Shehzad, was identified as a housekeeping staff member at a bar in Thane. His arrest followed crucial leads from CCTV footage and witness accounts. Police tracked his movements through video recordings from Dadar railway station and distributed his photographs widely in Mumbai and surrounding areas.

The breakthrough came when police located Shehzad in the Labour Camp area of Thane. Investigators are now probing his motives and examining his use of a false identity, “Vijay Das,” to determine whether he is an Indian national or a foreigner, possibly from Bangladesh, using forged documents.

Shehzad’s arrest follows an earlier false lead in Chhattisgarh, where authorities detained another suspect, Aakash Kailash Kannojia, aboard the Gyaneshwari Express train. While Mumbai Police had alerted the Railway Protection Force (RPF) in Durg, Chhattisgarh, Kannojia was later found to have no connection to the attack.

As the investigation unfolds, Mumbai Police are focusing on uncovering the circumstances that led to the attack and whether the suspect acted alone or had accomplices.)                                                      

Saif Ali Khan, 54, grievously injured in the attack in the wee hours of Thursday, was recovering well at Mumbai's Lilavati Hospital and could be discharged in two to three days, according to the doctors.

Mumbai Police, who had formed 30 teams to nab the assailant and recovered CCTV footage showing a suspect's face, informed RPF at Durg around 12:30 pm on Saturday that a suspect was traveling by the Jnaneswari Express.

RPF Durg alerted its counterpart at Rajnandgaon station (which comes before Durg on the Mumbai-Howrah route), but the suspect could not be located when the train halted there, an RPF official said. He was found in the front general compartment at Durg station. He was made to talk to police officials in Mumbai through a video call.

He is presently kept at RPF Post Durg, and a Mumbai police team would be reaching Chhattisgarh soon, officials said.

On Friday, Mumbai Police had collected CCTV footage from a mobile shop in Dadar visited by the alleged suspect following the incident. "He purchased a pair of earphones for Rs 50," said Hasan, who works at the shop 'Iqra,' speaking to PTI Videos.

Saif Ali Khan, who has acted in films such as "Omkara," "Kal Ho Naa Ho," "Dil Chahta Hai," as well as the Netflix series "Sacred Games," was stabbed by the intruder multiple times during Thursday's incident inside his 12th-floor apartment at 'Satguru Sharan' building in the upscale Bandra West area of Mumbai.

Doctors said the Bollywood actor, who has been shifted out of the ICU, is able to walk and is having a normal diet.

"We are observing his progress, and he is doing excellently well according to our expectations. As per his progress, we have advised him bed rest, and if he is comfortable, then in two to three days we will discharge him," neurosurgeon Dr. Nitin Dange, who operated on him, had said on Friday.

Saif's wife and actor Kareena Kapoor Khan told police in her statement that the intruder got aggressive when confronted but did not touch the jewelry kept in the open, said an official.

A senior police official said the attack seemed to be a "stray incident." "The intruder was not working for any gang, as per the prima facie investigation. He probably was not even aware whose house he had entered," the official added.

CCTV footage showed the suspected assailant, wearing a red scarf and carrying a backpack, scurrying down the stairs from the sixth floor of 'Satguru Sharan' around 2:30 am on Thursday.

Maharashtra Minister of State for Home Yogesh Kadam has said that robbery was the motive and no underworld gang was involved.

As per Dr. Dange, Khan had four main wounds: two in the hand, one on the neck, and "the most deep and dangerous" one in the spine. During the surgery, the doctors removed a 2.5-inch knife fragment lodged in his spine. They noted that if the knife had gone just 2 mm deeper, it could have caused a severe injury.

Autorickshaw driver Bhajan Singh Rana, in whose vehicle the actor was rushed to the hospital, finds himself in the limelight. Rana said he was not aware that the passenger with a blood-soaked kurta was Khan, a Bollywood star and Padma Shri awardee.

"He (Saif) walked into the auto. There was a seven to eight-year-old boy who also boarded the rickshaw," he said when asked if the actor’s son Taimur accompanied him to the hospital.

"When we reached the hospital, he called out to the guard at the gate and told him: 'Please bring a stretcher. I am Saif Ali Khan,'” he said.