Intruder's fingerprints found at Saif's house

The three questions yet to be answered

- Manish Kumar Pathak

MUMBAI: Police in Mumbai probing the attack on Saif Ali Khan said that they have found an unidentified person's fingerprints at 19 spots and have tapped forensics to see if they match with the arrested suspect, even as they gave new details on how they zeroed in on the man they arrested the previous day after a frenetic manhunt.

Shariful Islam Shehzad Mohammed Rohilla Amin Fakir, 30, ostensibly a Bangladeshi national, was arrested around 2am on January 19 from a mangrove area near Hiranandani Estate in Thane, approximately 72 hours after the alleged assault.

According to officials, the breakthrough in identifying Fakir came after investigators, working off of CCTV footage of Khan's residence on the night of the attack on January 16, deployed facial recognition software to pore over video footage from various CCTV cameras in the city's western suburbs.

They discovered Fakir had travelled on trains between Dadar and Andheri four times this month - on January 1, 9, 15 and 16, an official said, asking not to be named.

On January 9, cameras captured him in DN Nagar, Andheri West, riding pillion with Amit Pandey, whom he had met outside Andheri station, the officer added.

After tracing the bike's registration to Pandey, police questioned him, leading to crucial information about Fakir's identity and phone number.

Police learned Fakir had obtained a SIM card in Kolkata using fake ID and tracked his mobile location to Thane on Saturday, losing signal temporarily when he switched off his phone.