Police personnel take the accused, arrested in connection with the alleged attack on Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan, to a hospital for medical examination before producing him at a court, in Mumbai, Sunday, Jan. 19, 2025.
Credit: PTI Photo
Mumbai: Hours after Bangladeshi national Shariful Islam Shehzad Mohammed Rohilla Amin Fakir was arrested for the attack on Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan, a war of words have commenced between the BJP-led NDA and the Congress-led I.N.D.I.A Opposition bloc.
Leaders of Maharashtra's Maha Yuti-NDA asserted that the Devendra Fadnavis-led government would flush out Bangladeshis staying illegally in the state.
“We will find out the Bangladeshis, punish them and send them back from where they came,” BJP MLA Ram Kadam said.
On the other hand, former BJP MP Kirit Somaiya visited the Labour camp at Thane, where Shehzad was staying for 3 months. "I met 12 workers, 9 of them were Bangladeshi Muslims.. they said say they are from Malda but they do not have authentic documents," he said, adding that he would talk to the police and ensure that there are combing operations to find out the Bangladeshis and take appropriate steps.
BJP leader Amit Malviya, in-charge of the party's National Information & Technology Department, in a post on X, said, “Mumbai Police has confirmed that Mohammad Shariful Islam, who attacked Saif Ali Khan, is an illegal resident from Bangladesh, and had assumed a Hindu identity. Political parties like the Congress, TMC, among others in the I.N.D.I Alliance, that exploit illegal immigrants as vote banks and had sought to communalize this incident to malign Hindus should apologise.”
Shiv Sena (UBT) Rajya Sabha member Priyanka Chaturvedi posted on X, “Shame on India’s Home Minister that he has made our borders so porous that these Bangladeshis not just enter illegally but indulge in crimes in the city. Who is helping them cross the border? How is it so easy for them to acquire documents, get jobs and then indulge in heinous crimes? PS: Before calling other leaders as traitors, the HM should know that his failure in curbing illegal immigration is an act of treason."