Attack on Saif Ali Khan: Yet to receive fingerprint reports, say police

In the early hours on January 16 by an intruder who demanded ₹1 crore and escaped after inflicting multiple stab wounds on Saif Ali Khan and two of his staff members

MUMBAI: Two days after some media reports claimed the fingerprints obtained from actor Saif Ali Khan’s Bandra apartment did not match with those of Shariful Islam Shehzad, arrested for allegedly attacking the actor after a failed robbery bid on January 16, police clarified that they are yet to receive the report from the fingerprint bureau controlled by the state criminal investigation department (CID).

Attack on Saif Ali Khan: Yet to receive fingerprint reports, say police

“We are yet to receive the fingerprint reports. I am clarifying this since there were several media reports about the same,” Paramjit Singh Dahia, additional commissioner of police, western region, said while addressing the media on Tuesday.

Khan was attacked in the early hours on January 16 by an intruder who demanded ₹1 crore and escaped after inflicting multiple stab wounds on him and two of his staff members. On the night of January 18, police arrested 30-year-old Shariful Islam Shehzad, claiming he was a Bangladeshi national and had entered the actor’s house to commit a burglary and attacked him with a knife.

This was after police detained Akash Kanojia, a Colaba resident, from Durg railway station in Chhattisgarh on January 18 morning, mistaking him for the intruder. Kanojia was released after police arrested Shehzad in Thane later that night.

Fingerprint experts who visited Khan’s house in Satguru Sharan building in Bandra West after the incident collected around 200 fingerprints. Fingerprints were also collected from staircase, railing and passage area in the basement.

On Tuesday, the additional commissioner asserted that Shehzad was the person who broke into the actor’s residence and attacked him, although the fingerprint reports were awaited.

“We are confident that we have apprehended the right individual,” he said. The Bandra police, which is investigating the case, has conducted clue-based detection, recovered the weapon used in commission of the crime, and collected ample technical, ocular and physical evidence, he noted.

“Besides, there is strong evidence indicating the arrested accused is a Bangladeshi national,” Dahia told reporters.