Saif stabbing: As Pataudi scion takes a walk, Mumbai cops detain suspect

While Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan continues to recover from his stab wounds, new developments in the investigation have been taking place in parallel.

After being stabbed in what was reportedly an attempted burglary incident at his Mumbai residence — which placed one of the actor’s children, Jehangir, and an employee in his home at risk — Khan has been recovering at Lilavati Hospital from six injuries and a surgery to remove a piece of a blade from his spine. Today, 17 January, he was able to stand up and take his first few steps since the incident, his physicians report.

Meanwhile, the police have managed to arrest a suspect following an intense manhunt involving 70 teams. However, the specifics of the attack, including the role of the suspect in the burglary, remain unclear at this time.

The Mumbai police have also recovered a piece of weaponry — an old sword — from the Pataudi scion’s residence in Bandra. The sword’s origin and ownership — for instance, whether it is from the actor’s ancestral collection, given he is descended from the nawabs of Pataudi — remain unconfirmed at this time.

It is but one more link in the chain of intrigue woven through the ongoing investigation, where so far even the motive behind the intrusion and assault remain uncertain, with rumours rife — from the actor’s Islamic heritage to the many valuable possessions he owns, in his own right as well as the ‘nawab’ of Pataudi Palace.

In visuals that surfaced this morning, the arrested suspect was seen being transported to Bandra police station. Details of his identity are as yet undisclosed, though police sources claim that he is the one who broke into the residence of Khan and wife Kareena Kapoor’s home in the wee hours of Thursday morning, 16 January.

The cops believe that the attacker had changed his clothes quickly to avoid being spotted and nabbed. He was apparently seen near the Bandra railway station after the incident.

The suspect has been caught on the apartment’s CCTV cameras and was seen fleeing the building down the stairs, apparently after being confronted by the actor, again being caught on the sixth floor camera.

Saif Ali Khan lives in a four-level apartment of ‘Satguru Sharan’, with his family members including sons Taimur and Jehangir, aka ‘Jeh’, in whose room the commotion apparently originated, drawing Khan’s attention.

The assailant reportedly broke into the 12th floor, through Jeh’s room, while the entire family was at home and was found in an altercation with a employee in the household. This was around 2:15 a.m. on 16 January.

The employee, Eliyama Philip, has told Filmfare magazine that she had put Jehangir to bed at 11 p.m. and gone to bed herself — until she woke up around 2 a.m. on hearing noises and noticed that the bathroom light was on, the door open. She assumed at first that his mother had popped in — but then saw the assailant headed towards Jeh’s bed, she said.

The intruder also saw her and threatened her to keep quiet — and all the commotion now woke his nanny Junu. While he was threatening them both — he reportedly had a long thing stick in one hand and a long blade in the other — the actor couple also arrived on the scene.

Apparently, the man wanted Rs 1 crore, so he told the women. Another nurse employed in the household, named Geeta, also rushed in and was also injured, as was Eliyama.

However, the family managed to get out of the room, locking the insider in the room, and fled upstairs. By this time, the rest of the staff had been roused — but when they went to the room, the intruder had apparently fled.

Saif was reportedly stabbed six times by the burglar, when he intervened as the latter attacked Eliyama Philip. The actor was then rushed to Lilavati Hospital with a 2.5-inch piece of a blade still embedded in his back, in addition to wounds in his left hand and neck. He has now been declared out of danger after the emergency surgery and a short stay in the ICU, and is recovering in a private room.

The shocking midnight incident has naturally triggered a wave of concern and criticism from tinsel-town celebrities and Mumbai's other well-heeled residents as well as from local political leaders earmarking it a signpost of law-and-order failure.

Meanwhile, an apparent connection between the attack on Saif Ali Khan and another Bollywood megastar, Shah Rukh Khan, has come to light.

Earlier, a man was seen trying to look inside SRK’s swanky bungalow, Mannat, in the Bandstand area of Mumbai.

The intruder reportedly tried to peek inside SRK’s house using a 6- to 8-foot long iron ladder. The Peeping Tom, by description, appears to be similar in height and frame to the culprit who attacked Saif.

A search of SRK’s home by the police followed to ensure all was indeed well within.

The police suspect that this was a recce and the person sighted could not have been working alone, given the ladder was heavy enough to need at least 2–3 people to carry and position it.

Although no complaint has been filed by Shah Rukh Khan in this regard, but police are taking this matter seriously and are trying to find out whether any similar ladder has been noted in any recent reports of theft and burglary.

As for Saif Ali Khan, he is reassuringly on the mend, per his treating medical team, which included a neurosurgeon and a cosmetic surgeon — though as yet not allowed visitors. In a statement to the press today, his physician Dr Nitin Dange of Lilavati Hospital said that despite : “Saif Ali Khan's condition is stable... Saif's condition is improving... Saif is feeling better.. He has been shifted [from ICU] to a special room... Visitors have been restricted from meeting him.”

“Saif needs rest. Today, Saif walked — and walked comfortably. There is no pain. All parameters are fine. Visitors are restricted to prevent infection. There is a spine injury. The chances of infection should be avoided,” the doctor added.

Niraj Uttamani, COO of Lilavati Hospital, was also reassuring about his health, despite the dangerous placement of some of the wounds: “I was the first doctor who saw him. Saif walked in like a lion. Taimur accompanied him. He's currently doing well."

With IANS inputs