B'desh man arrested for stabbing Saif, say police

The Mumbai Police on Sunday arrested a 30-year-old man, whom they identified as a Bangladeshi national, for allegedly stabbing actor Saif Ali Khan multiple times in a brazen attack at the Bollywood star's home on Thursday.

- Vinay Dalvi and Anamika Gharat

Police said the accused, Shariful Islam Shehzad, is originally a resident of Jhalokathi in the neighbouring country, and changed his name to Bijoy Das after entering India illegally. Later in the day, he was remanded to a five-day police custody as authorities looked to investigate if there was an "international conspiracy" behind the attack.

"Prima facie, the accused seems to be a Bangladeshi national, and after entering India illegally, he changed his name. Currently, he is using Bijoy Das as his name. He came to Mumbai five to six months ago. He used to work in a housekeeping agency," Dixit Gedam, the deputy commissioner of police (DCP), Zone 9, said.

Preliminary investigations suggested that Shehzad, who was currently unemployed, entered Khan's Bandra residence with the intention of theft, but did not know that it belonged to a Bollywood actor, police officers familiar with the matter said. They added that the accused told police that he had learnt that the locality where Khan lived had many wealthy residents, and he had conducted multiple reconnaissance of the area earlier.