More than 30 hours after Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan was repeatedly stabbed during an apparent burglary attempt in his Bandra apartment, Mumbai police are intensifying efforts to track down the attacker.
Police have formed 20 teams to locate the suspect, using informants and technical data, including mobile activity in the area at the time of the attack, which took place on early Thursday morning. The city’s crime branch and local police have collected forensic evidence and are reviewing CCTV footage from the building where the incident occurred.
The footage shows the suspect, a man in his late 30s or early 40s, fleeing the building around 2:33 AM. The man, dressed in a brown collared T-shirt and red scarf, was armed with a wooden stick and a Hexa blade, according to police.
Khan, 54, sustained six stab wounds, including one to his neck, but is out of danger following emergency surgery at Lilavati Hospital. His wife, actress Kareena Kapoor, and their two children were home at the time of the attack but were unharmed.
According to police, the suspect did not force his entry or break into the actor’s flat but possibly sneaked in at some point during the night with the intention of robbery.
The entire family – Khan, his wife and fellow star Kareena Kapoor, and their two sons, four-year-old Jeh and eight-year-old Taimur – were home in the 12th floor apartment along with their five house helps. In a statement to the police, Jeh’s nanny Eliyama Philip, who first encountered the armed attacker, said he asked for Rs 1 crore.
Recounting the horrific events of the night, Philip said she was sleeping on the floor in Jeh’s room and woke up around 2 am when she heard a sound and saw a man move towards the sleeping child. Panicked, she rushed to pick him up and was pushed away by the man, armed with a wooden stick and a long Hexa blade. Another nanny was also sleeping in the same room.
“I sat up to see who was in the bathroom… I saw a thin and short man come out and go towards Jeh’s bed,” Philip said in the statement that forms the basis of the police FIR on the incident.
The man, she said, pointed a finger at her and warned her, “Koi awaz nahin (don’t make any noise).
“In the scuffle, he attacked me with the blade. I got injured on my wrist. I asked him what he wants. He said he wants money and that he needs Rs 1 crore,” Philip, who has been working with the star couple for four years, said in her statement.
Hearing Philip’s screams, Khan and Kapoor rushed out of their bedroom. The attacker then stabbed Khan before fleeing the scene. He made his escape through the stairs and still remains on the run.