The man suspected of stabbing Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan at his Mumbai home was captured on CCTV buying a phone cover but remained at large two days after the knife attack that shocked the Indian film industry.
Khan, 54, who belongs to a family of erstwhile royals, was stabbed six times in the early hours of Thursday at his home in an upscale neighbourhood in Mumbai. The actor was taken to a local hospital where he is recovering from injuries to his spine, neck and hands.
The assailant remains absconding, police said on Friday, after some Indian media reports claimed the suspected had been taken in custody for questioning.
“The person brought to Bandra police station for questioning is not related to the Saif Ali Khan attack case. No one is detained in the Saif Ali Khan attack case as of now,” police said.
Son of cricketer Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi and actor Sharmila Tagore, Khan is the scion of the erstwhile rulers of the former princely state of Pataudi in the state of Haryana. Since his Bollywood debut in 1993, he has gone on to star in over 60 films, including the critically acclaimed Omkara, a Hindi-language adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Othello.
New CCTV footage released on Saturday showed Khan’s suspected attacker roaming in the Dadar area of central Mumbai hours after the incident.
He purchased a new mobile phone cover from a shop just hours after the attack, the police team investigating the case said after tracking the intruder’s movements, The Indian Express reported.
Police believe the accused likely boarded a local train and went to Dadar where he purchased the phone cover after the attempted robbery.
Khan’s wife, Bollywood actress Kareena Kapoor Khan, told police the attacker was “aggressive” and she saw him attacking her husband repeatedly.
“The attacker was aggressive. I saw him attack Saif repeatedly…Our priority was to take Saif to the hospital,” she told police.
Khan was rushed to Mumbai’s Lilavati Hospital where he underwent surgery, with injuries close to his spine and neck, and is now stable and recovering.
Doctors at the hospital confirmed to Indian media that a small piece of a knife, about 2.5-inch long, used by the assailant had become lodged in his spine. The surgery to remove it was successful. A statement from the actor’s team, post surgery, stated that he was “in recovery and the doctors are monitoring his progress. All family members are safe and the police are investigating the incident”.
While details of what happened initially were unclear, police were able to put together a sequence of events with statements from people present during the attack.
What we know about the attack
The incident reportedly took place around 2.30am while the actor, was sleeping. His wife, Bollywood actress Kareena Kapoor Khan, 44, and their sons Taimur, 7, and Jeh, 3, were also present in the house at the time of the incident but were unhurt.
The actor lives in a 12-storey building named Satguru Sharan in an upscale neighbourhood in Mumbai with his wife and two sons. Their home is spread over four floors in the building.
According to the police, the attacker’s primary aim was to commit a burglary. He entered the compound next to Khan’s building, and then scaled the wall in order to avoid being caught by CCTV cameras.
The intruder then climbed all 12-storeys via a flight of stairs located on the building’s rear side, and was then able to enter Khan’s apartment using a fire escape.
“It has been discovered that the accused used the fire escape to enter their house. So far, the investigation suggests that it was an attempted burglary. We are making every effort to arrest the accused as soon as possible. Once he is arrested, we will be able to disclose further details,” senior police officer Dixit Gedam told the media on Thursday.
Police on Friday brought in a man to the Bandra police station for questioning, NDTV reported. It was not confirmed if he was the same man who had broken into the actor’s home, the report said.
Eliyama Phillip, 56, a nurse who has been with the Khans for four years and looks after their younger son, was the first to encounter the intruder, according to NDTV.
Around 2am, three hours after she had put Jeh to bed, she woke after hearing noises. Noticing that the bathroom door was ajar and the light was on, she assumed it was Kareena Kapoor Khan checking on her son.
“Then I went back to sleep but, again, I realised something was wrong. So I woke up again and saw a man come out of the bathroom and go into the boy’s room,” she told the police.
Philip’s statement to the police states that she went towards the child’s bed immediately, and the man spotted her and signalled her to stay quiet.
Several reports state that the intruder demanded Rs10m when asked what he wanted. However, Hindustan Times reported that joint commissioner Satya Narayan Chaudhary denied the claim.
Philips and the intruder were caught in a scuffle after this, she added, which resulted in her fingers in both hands and her right wrist being injured. During this confrontation, Khan awoke and got into a similar altercation with the intruder. Reports say another nurse named Geeta, who was also present in the house, also intervened.
Together, Khan and Geeta were able to overpower the intruder momentarily and locked him in the room, and rushed to an upper floor, according to The Indian Express. Returning a short while later, they found the door open and the room empty.
At this point, they realised Khan had “sustained injuries on his neck, back, hand and shoulder, and Geeta had injury marks on her face, wrist and back”.
What we know about the intruder
Mumbai police detained a man on Friday morning in connection with the attack, according to media reports. It is unclear if the man in custody is suspected as being the man who broke into the Khans’ residence. No one has been arrested yet in the case.
Philips’ statement described the attacker as being aged between 30 and 35, and wore black pants, a T-shirt, and a cap.
Police statements said he was captured on CCTV at 2.33am in the stairwell of Khan’s building, and released an image on Thursday evening.
According to NDTV, he was later spotted near the Bandra police station and police have assumed he took the first local train in the morning.
A case under sections of robbery, trespassing, and “grievous hurt caused while committing lurking house-trespass” has been registered against him.
The incident has led to shockwaves across the country, with Khan’s colleagues and Mumbai’s residents questioning the law and order in the state, as well as the laxness in the building’s security.
