Police arrest Saif Ali Khan’s attacker, claim he is illegal Bangladeshi immigrant

The 30-year old accused, who allegedly hails from Bangladesh, had illegally entered India eight months ago, changed his name to Vijay Das and worked as a housekeeper. The accused has been booked under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 311 (robbery or dacoity with the intent to cause grievous hurt or death), 331(4) (house-breaking) and other offences as well as provisions of Passport Act.

A holiday court in Mumbai on Sunday remanded the 30-year-old accused to police custody for five days.

“The motive behind the crime, based on primary investigations, is robbery,” said deputy commissioner of police Dixit Gedam. “He does not have valid Indian documents. There are some seizures which indicate that he is a Bangladeshi national.”
Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar said that the man who allegedly stabbed Saif Ali Khan didn’t realise that he intruded into the Bollywood star’s house.

“The accused in the Saif Ali Khan stabbing case was arrested from Thane and he has confessed to his crime. He had come to Kolkata from Bangladesh only eight months ago. An agency hired him without doing any verification. The police have arrested those concerned from the agency as well,” he said while addressing a two-day conclave of his party in Shirdi.

Saif Ali Khan was repeatedly stabbed with a knife by an intruder inside his 12th-floor apartment in ‘Satguru Sharan’ building in upscale Bandra locality in the early hours of January 16.

Police said the accused had entered the Bollywood star’s home with the intention of theft. “Our probe has found that he took the stairs till the seventh-eighth floor, then entered the duct area, climbed to the 12th floor using a pipe, and broke into the actor’s flat through a bathroom window. He then came out from the bathroom, where he was seen by the actor’s staff,” the official said.

The accused started arguing with a nanny in the house and sought Rs one crore and hearing the ruckus, Khan arrived there and nabbed him from the front. The accused was startled and stabbed Khan in the back. Khan later locked the flat believing the accused was pinned inside. However, the accused managed to flee from the same area from where he had entered. We have recovered a hammer, screwdriver, nylon rope and other materials from his bag, the official said.
According to police, the accused, following the crime, travelled by train from Bandra to Dadar and then walked to his residence in Worli Koliwada, where he stayed with other persons. Upon seeing his image on television, he panicked and fled to Thane, from where he was eventually arrested. He was hiding off the mangrove area adjoining a labour camp near Hiranandani Estate in Kasarvadavali in Thane city.

The police are also looking into a possible ‘international conspiracy’ angle into the case. They told the court they needed to find out if there was an international conspiracy linked to the case, which the court accepted and observed that it “cannot be said to be impossible.”

The police also made it clear that the role Akash Kanojia, who was apprehended from Durg railway station on Saturday, could not be established and he was released after a brief inquiry.