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Police turn to ‘international conspiracy’ in Saif Ali Khan knife attack case

Police turn to ‘international conspiracy’ in Saif Ali Khan knife attack case

A Mumbai court granted local police five-day custody of the alleged suspect who is a Bangladeshi citizen.
Updated 20 Jan, 2025

Police investigating the near-fatal knife attack on actor Saif Ali Khan have tweaked the motive of the crime from attempted robbery to a wider ‘international conspiracy’, getting a five-day remand from a Mumbai court on Sunday to quiz a detained suspect they described as Mohammed Shariful Shehzad from Bangladesh.

“The accused is a citizen of Bangladesh. The suspicion of international conspiracy cannot be said to be impossible. So, sufficient time has to be given to the investigating officer. Therefore, granting police custody of five days,” the court said.

Reports were still sketchy about the 2:30am Thursday incident at the actor’s 12th-floor highly guarded home in Mumbai’s Bandra locality. The police were being secretive in their probe leading to considerable speculation.

During the hearing, the investigating officer defended his 14-day custody demand and said that the accused trespassed into Khan’s residence, attacked the actor, and injured two others. “Saif Ali Khan sustained grievous injuries, including a knife embedded in his body. We need to investigate how the accused entered the actor’s residence and his motives behind the attack.

“He is a Bangladeshi national, and it is important to determine how he entered the country. We need 14-day custody,” the investigating officer insisted.

‘No criminal record’

The defence lawyer opposed the request for custody, arguing that the accused is not a Bangladeshi but an Indian citizen who resides in Mumbai. “The matter is being unnecessarily hyped because it involves Saif Ali Khan. Otherwise, it would have been treated as a normal case. The reasons for custody were not clearly stated in the remand application. The accused is a young boy with no prior criminal record and is being made a scapegoat,” the defence lawyer said.

According to the defence, the accused is unaware of the case details. Hearing arguments from both sides, the court said: “The investigation is in its early stages, and the accused was arrested only today. Therefore, the grounds for seeking remand for a sufficient period of investigation are justified. The ground of illegalities in the arrest raised by the defence lawyer appears to be without sound reasoning”.

Speaking to the media after the case hearing, Shehzad’s lawyer Sandeep Shekhane said, the “angle of the case has been changed”.

“First of all, Saif Ali Khan has never made any statement or have any grievance with anyone that would create a threat for him from any state, Bangladesh or any other country. He does not have any international cases. They changed the angle of the case just… He was earlier in Bangladesh but he has been living here for many years now. Police said he has been living here for six months, which is not true. The family is in Mumbai,” Shekhane said.

The crime branch and the local police had formed multiple teams to trace the accused after the attack. The accused had eluded them for more than two days before his arrest on Sunday morning, reports said.

Political benefit

The new angle in the case in BJP-ruled Maharashtra could offer a political benefit for the party in Delhi. Analysts say the Bangladeshi angle should help the party in a desperate race to win the February 5 Delhi assembly polls.

The BJP is hoping to dislodge the Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi and allegations of Muslim migrants from Bangladesh being voters in the Indian capital have yielded communal dividends.

Meanwhile, Khan, 54, underwent emergency surgery at the Lilavati Hospital, where he was rushed following the incident that took place at his flat in the Satguru Sharan building. He is recovering and may be discharged soon, doctors said.

Originally published in Dawn, January 20th, 2025

Comments

Love India Jan 20, 2025 11:30am
Safety of all celebrities and ordinary citizens in India must be equally treated by police and government officials. India is a multi cultural and religious country in the world. Hindu-Muslims-Sikh and Christians are majority in India.
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Dr. Salaria, Aamir Ahmad Jan 20, 2025 12:40pm
Old and bad habits die hard.
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Laila Jan 20, 2025 01:18pm
Yes, of course its an "international conspiracy". It can't possibly be the local gangsters and mafia. The corrupt police is just covering up. They needed a scapegoat. They got one. SAK knows it. We know it. And presumably the Indian people know it.
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Mullah Jan 20, 2025 01:18pm
It is foolish to pre-empt the actual reason. The police are doing their job and they should be allowed to do it without any kind of influence. The police will establish whether he is a Bangladeshi or not
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Laila Jan 20, 2025 02:53pm
@Love India India is also corrupt, classist and run by extremists - just like Pakistan. So safety will remain an issue for your guys as well. The Indian police is covering up, blaming foreign elements, propagating wild conspiracy theories and have appointed and arrested a scapegoat....
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M. Saeed Jan 20, 2025 05:39pm
Bangladesh angle appears a revenge protocol for the not-Haseena Wajid!
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Reality Jan 20, 2025 05:41pm
People are not happy by any explanations they still have to find that conspiracy angle somehow..grow up
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Gurpreet Singh Jan 20, 2025 09:04pm
Illegal Bangladeshi immigrants have become a menace in India and should be dealt with a tough hand. Also a slap on the face of those who were insinuating that right wing Hindus were involved in the attack on Saif Ali Khan.
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NYS Jan 20, 2025 10:37pm
“The matter is being unnecessarily hyped because it involves Saif Ali Khan". This type of burglary is common that populous country Salam
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Harry Jan 21, 2025 12:48am
A person does not take so much effort to knifa a person without motive. So police need custody to find the motive.
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Gurpreet Singh Jan 21, 2025 04:53pm
@SALARIA - I agree with you that old bad habits die hard. Like the bad habit of our western neighbor to constantly poke its nose in other peoples business, especially ours.
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