A man thought to be a citizen of Bangladesh was arrested in India’s financial capital Mumbai on Sunday and is considered the prime suspect in the stabbing of Bollywood star Saif Ali Khan, police said.
Thursday’s attack on Khan, one of India’s most bankable stars, shocked the nation’s film industry and Mumbai residents, with many calling for better policing and security. He was out of danger, doctors said.
“Primary evidence suggests that the accused is a Bangladeshi citizen and after entering India illegally he changed his name,” Dixit Gedam, a deputy commissioner of police, told a news conference.
The suspect, arrested on the outskirts of Mumbai, was using the name Vijay Das but is believed to be Mohammad Shariful Islam Shehzad and was working with a housekeeping agency after having come to the city five or six months ago, Gedam said.
The police will seek custody of the suspect for further investigation, he added.
Star stabbed in his own home
Khan, 54, was stabbed six times by an intruder during a burglary attempt at his home. He walked into the hospital in blood-soaked clothes, accompanied by his six-year-old son, Taimur, and subsequently received surgery for wounds to his back, neck and hands, doctors said.
Doctors stated on Friday that Khan was stable and out of danger after the surgery.
“If the knife had penetrated any further, there would have been an injury to the spine,” Niraj Uttamnani, one of the doctors who treated Khan, told reporters last week, adding the actor had escaped by a distance of just two millimetres.
Police in Mumbai detained a first key suspect in the attack on Friday, while police in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh detained a second person on Saturday.
Khan is the son of India’s former cricket captain Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi and actress Sharmila Tagore, and is half of one of Bollywood’s biggest power couples. He and his wife, Kareena Kapoor Khan, have both starred in more than 60 films each, including a few they worked on together.
In an Instagram post last week, Kapoor Khan called for the media and paparazzi to “refrain from the relentless speculation and coverage,” stating that the constant attention is overwhelming and poses “a significant risk to our safety.”
