
Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Jan 21: Bollywood star Saif Ali Khan returned home from Mumbai’s Lilavati hospital five days after he had to undergo emergency surgery to treat the stabbing wounds he suffered during an attack on him by an intruder at his Bandra West residence in the wee hours of Thursday.
Actor Saif Ali was discharged from the hospital on Tuesday afternoon amidst heavy security arrangements made both at the hospital and at his residence in “Sataguru Sharan” building as people had started gathering at both the places on hearing the news of his release from the hospital to return home. At the time of his release from the hospital he has been advised complete bed rest for a week and not to receive any visitor to prevent likely infection.
The first visuals of Saif Ali Khan reaching home showed paparazzi having gathered at the gate, causing a commotion, but police managed to handle the situation. The paps crowded around the car to catch a glimpse of Saif. The actor looked sharp in a crisp white shirt paired with ice-blue denims as he returned to his house. Completing the look with black-tinted sunglasses, he acknowledged the paparazzi with a friendly wave before heading inside. He appeared to be in good spirits and on the way to recovery.
In an incident that shocked the nation and raised questions on Mumbai’s law and order situation, the actor had suffered six stab injuries when a man who broke into his home attacked him with a knife. The actor, bleeding heavily from his wounds, was rushed to the hospital in an auto-rickshaw. One of the injuries was on his spine and doctors said the knife missed his spinal cord by just 2 mm. The spinal fluid, however, had leaked out and a surgery was conducted to fix this. The actor also underwent plastic surgery for injuries on his arm and neck.
Eliyama Philip, who looks for Saif Ali Khan’s sons Taimur and Jeh, has told police that she was the first to spot the intruder. She has said she was woken up by some noises around 2 am. She saw the bathroom door ajar and the light on and assumed that Kareena Kapoor Khan was checking on Jeh.
“… then I went back to sleep but, again, I realised something was wrong. So I woke up again and saw a man come out of the bathroom and go into the boy’s room. I quickly got up and went to Jeh’s room. The attacker then put his finger near his mouth and said ‘Don’t make any noise, nobody will go out’ in Hindi,” Ms Philip said.
“When I rushed to pick up Jeh, the man, armed with a wooden stick and a long Hexa blade, ran towards me and tried attacking me. I tried to block the attack by putting my hand forward, but the blade hit me near the wrists of both my hands and on the middle finger of my left hand. At that time, I asked him, ‘What do you want?’. He said, ‘I want money.’ I asked, ‘How much do you want?’ He said in English, ‘one crore’,” Ms Philip has said in her statement.
Hearing Ms Philip scream, Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor Khan rushed out of their room. When Mr Khan asked the intruder what he wanted, he attacked him with a wooden object and the hexa blade, Ms Philip said. “Saif Sir somehow managed to get away from him and we all ran out of the room and pulled the door of the room,” she said, adding that everyone then went to the upper floor of their home. The intruder later escaped, she said.
Following the incident, police stepped into action and arrested the alleged accused for breaking into the actor’s home and attacking him. He has been identified as 30-year-old Bangladeshi named Shariful Islam Shehzad Mohammad Rohilla Amin Fakir, who changed his name to Bijoy Das in India. Fakir was arrested from Thane, three days after the violent attack. Earlier in the day on Tuesday, the accused was brought to Mr Khan’s Bandra residence to recreate the crime as part of the investigation. Police has also gathered 19 fingertips from the Bandra residence of Mr Khan which police believe were of the accused.