Maharashtra minister says theft only motive behind attack on Saif, rules out any other angle

Khan suffered grievous injuries after an intruder stabbed him with a knife repeatedly at his 12th-floor flat in upscale Bandra in the early hours of Thursday.

Pune: Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan, undergoing treatment at a Mumbai hospital after suffering injuries in a knife attack at home, is doing "very well" and expected to be discharged in two to three days, doctors said on Friday.

Police said they have detained a suspect in connection with the attack, while Maharashtra minister of state for home Yogesh Kadam said no underworld gang is behind the incident.

The 54-year-old actor, who received multiple stab injuries, including in his neck, underwent an emergency surgery at the Lilavati Hospital where he was taken after the brutal attack in his apartment in upscale Bandra by an intruder on early Thursday.

"We are observing his progress and he is doing excellently well according to our expectations. As per his progress, we have advised him bed rest and if he is comfortable, then in two to three days we will discharge him," said Dr Nitin Dange, neurosurgeon at Lilavati Hospital. He said a team of doctors checked on him and made him walk.

The actor is fit to be moved out of the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and "we are shifting him to a special room," informed the neurosurgeon, who led the team of doctors who operated on Khan on Thursday.

"Khan had three injuries, two on the hand and one on the right side of the neck. And the major part was at the back, which was in the spine, thoracic spine we call. A sharp object was lodged inside, which has gone very deep, touching the dura and the spinal cord, but it has not damaged the spinal cord," Dr Dange said.

Doctors have removed the sharp object and done repairing of the spinal injury, he explained.

An image of the sharp object, a knife blade, went viral on social media.

"He is very lucky. We repaired the leaking spinal fluid and the dura which was there. We had to do a repair, which was successful," Dr Dange added.

"Today when we made him walk, he was completely okay to walk. He is on a regular diet and that's why we have taken a decision to shift him from the ICU to a normal special room. He has been advised bed rest in view of the deeper injury to the spine. Today we will be restricting visitors as we want Khan to rest," he maintained.

The entire family - Khan, his wife and fellow star Kareena Kapoor, and their two sons, four-year-old Jeh and eight-year-old Taimur - were home in the 12th floor apartment in 'Satguru Sharan' building along with their five house helps at the time of the attack.

In a statement to the police, Jeh's nanny Eliyama Philip, who first encountered the armed attacker, said he asked for Rs 1 crore.

The intruder did not force his entry or break into the actor's flat but possibly sneaked in at some point during the night with the intention of robbery, police officials said.

A suspect has been detained in connection with the attack, Kadam said, adding he is not part of any gang. No gang has carried out this attack, Kadam told reporters in Pune.

The suspect, whose identity is yet to be established, was taken to the Bandra police station. He was detained after police questioned several people who resembled the attacker, an official said.

The man brought into the Bandra police station was carrying a backpack similar to the one seen in the CCTV footage from the actor's building, the official said.

There has been no intimation from Saif Ali Khan to police till date on whether he faced any threat, the minister said. He has not sought any security cover, but if he does so, we will follow due procedure, he added.

Kadam said theft was the only motive behind the attack on the actor.

Kadam said the suspect’s facial features matched with the attacker whose image was captured in CCTV cameras when he was fleeing the building.

The police are tracking one more person, Kadam said.

CCTV footage showed the suspected assailant, wearing a red scarf and carrying a backpack, scurrying down the stairs from the sixth floor of the 'Satguru Sharan' building where Khan lives.

Maharashtra minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule said the state government and police department responded quickly to the knife attack on actor Saif Ali Khan, emphasising that Mumbai is the safest city in the country.

Following the attack, leaders from the opposition parties, including the Congress, NCP (SP) and Shiv Sena (UBT), said the attack on Khan showed that not even celebrities are safe in the state, and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who holds the home portfolio, has failed to maintain law and order.

Speaking to reporters in Nagpur, Bawankule said the government took such incidents seriously, and the chief minister had stated that the government and police took cognisance of the attack and quickly responded.

"We have seen how the then government responded to the incident that took place near Ambani ji's residence (industrialist Mukesh Ambani's Antilia). We don't want to compare these incidents. But Mumbai is a safe place and the safest city in the country. The Mumbai and Maharashtra police are alert, and it is important how they respond when such incidents occur. Our home minister is taking proper action," he said.