Is the person arrested same as the one on CCTV?: Congress questions probe in Saif Ali Khan case

Mumbai: Questioning the investigations into the attack on Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan, the Congress on Friday enquired if the person captured in the CCTV footage was the same as the one that the police have arrested.

The Mumbai police have arrested Shariful Islam Shehzad Mohammad Rohilla Amin Fakir, a Bangladeshi intruder, for the knife attack on the actor inside his residence in Bandra a week ago.

Shariful’s father Mohamed Ruhul Amin Fakir, while talking to a Bengali news channel, said that his son left Bangladesh and crossed into India without any valid documents because of the political crisis in his home country. However, he denied that his son was a wrestler - as claimed by some media outlets.

"I saw all this on the TV channel. I didn't even know that Shariful had tried to attack someone there," he said, however, he added that the photo released earlier (CCTV footage) was not that of his son.

Seeking clarification from the police, state Congress President Nana Patole asked: "The issue of security in Mumbai has come to the fore after the attack on actor Saif Ali Khan at his house in the middle of the night. Mumbai Police has announced that the attacker has been arrested, but a newspaper has claimed that there is no resemblance between the attacker seen in the CCTV and the arrested person.”

Patole said that celebrities are not safe as seen in the attack on an actor's house in the Bandra area of Mumbai, which is considered safe, and the village sarpanch is not safe either, but what about the safety of the common people in the state.

"This is a serious law and order issue and this is also the result of the government working by appointing retired police officers to important positions. The attack on Saif Ali Khan has spread an atmosphere of fear in Bollywood. The attack on Saif is not a Hindu-Muslim issue but a security and law and order issue, but some people in the ruling BJP are trying to give it a religious colour,” said Patole.

“The BJP government itself had ordered a CBI inquiry into the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, but till date, the CBI has not given its report. It has to be said that the BJP government has not been able to provide justice to Hindu Sushant. If the ruling BJP is pursuing a religious agenda even in the matter of law and order, then this is the misfortune of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's Maharashtra," said Patole.

“During the Assembly elections, the BJP alliance made a big fuss about the Ladki Bahin scheme and gave Rs 1,500 per month to all the sisters, but now the wrong people have taken advantage of this scheme, there are flaws in this scheme. The government has realised that Bangladeshis have also taken advantage of the Ladki Bahin scheme. Didn't the government see the flaws while starting the scheme? If Bangladeshis took advantage of this scheme, how did they come to India, and Maharashtra?,” Patole asked.