Having spotted an intruder in his home arguing with his helpers last week, actor Saif Ali Khan grabbed the man from the front in order to detain him.
To break free from the hold, the 30-year-old accused, identified as Shariful Islam Shehzad Mohammad Rohilla Amin Fakir, then stabbed Saif in the back multiple times, police said.
The 54-year-old Bollywood actor is recovering at home in Mumbai, after undergoing emergency surgery at the Lilavati Hospital. A piece of the knife the intruder used was removed from his body. He was discharged on Tuesday.
According to the hospital, Saif suffered six injuries in the attack, two of which were deep cuts. Doctors said he was leaking spinal fluid when he arrived at the hospital. However, none of his injuries were severe.
On Sunday, police arrested Shariful, a Bangladesh national who changed his name to Vijay Das.
Police said Shariful entered the residential building with the intent of burglary. He claimed he was unaware of who Saif was and targeted the house as he thought it belonged to someone rich.
“He was driven to crime because of extreme poverty,” a police officer told the Times of India. “He chose Saif’s residence randomly. Shariful lost a housekeeping job at a Thane (a city in Maharashtra) restaurant on Dec 15. He found himself nearly penniless.”
Police said Shariful entered India by crossing the Dawki river on the India-Bangladesh border at Meghalaya, paying Rs10,000 to an agent to take him to Assam. He then stayed in Kolkata for a while before moving to Mumbai.
After losing his second job in the city, Shariful decided on committing a burglary, and surveyed locations across the ritzy parts of Bandra and Khar on Dec 31 and Jan 1. Before the attack on Saif, Shariful walked 90 minutes to Bandra on the night of Jan 15.
“He carried housebreaking tools like a screwdriver, hammer and hacksaw blade, which he bought a few days before,” a police officer told The Times of India. “The knife that he used in the attack was stolen from the Thane restaurant where he used to work.
Police said he stabbed Saif on his back many times to free himself from the actor’s tight hold.
Shariful gained entry into Saif’s 12th-floor flat in the Satguru Sharan building through the bathroom window. “After he entered the house, the actor’s staff spotted him and started arguing with him. Soon, Mr Khan came there and sensing a threat, he held the accused tightly from the front,” the police officer said.
“The accused started stabbing Mr Khan in the back to free himself.”
According to the officer, Saif swiftly locked his flat’s main door, believing Shaiful was still inside. But the burglar escaped by retracing his entry route through the bathroom window.
“The accused then came down and hid himself in the garden of the building for around two hours before fleeing the area,” said the officer.
“After the crime, he was in Bandra-Khar for hours before taking a train to Dadar. He was unaware till then that he had stabbed a famous actor. He told us during questioning that his attack on Saif was unplanned.”
Police tracked down Shariful after the Thane restaurant owner provided his Worli location and phone number.
Shariful said during questioning that he was a fan of Shah Rukh Khan and had tried to scale the walls of the actor’s Bandra bungalow to get a look at the superstar before the Saif incident.
“He said his friends and family members often told him that he looked like Shah Rukh Khan. That would puff him up,” the police officer said.
