Saif Ali Khan attack case: New video shows assailant going up steps; cops yet to make arrest after over 30 hours

A man who resembled the attacker has been detained for questioning, an official said

Mumbai: Police are questioning a carpenter in connection with the knife attack on Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan at his apartment in Mumbai's Bandra, while a Maharashtra minister on Friday ruled out underworld link to the stabbing incident.

The 54-year-old filmstar is recovering well at Lilavati Hospital, where he was taken after the brutal attack by an intruder in the early hours of Thursday that left him with multiple wounds, and is expected to be discharged in two to three days, doctors treating him said.

According to an official, the carpenter, identified as Waris Ali Salmani, was picked up and taken to the Bandra police station for questioning after he resembled the intruder who stabbed Khan in his 12th floor apartment during a robbery attempt. The attacker's face was clearly captured in CCTV footage which surfaced on Thursday.

The video showed the 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, at around 2.30 am.

Salmani had worked at the actor's flat two days before the incident and was informed about the attack by the contractor who had hired him for the carpentry assignment, the official said.

Hours after questioning, police took him to an undisclosed location, he said. A second official, speaking on condition of anonymity, however, said the man brought to the police station for questioning was not related to the attack on Khan. No one has been arrested yet, he said, adding more than 30 teams have been formed to track down and nab the attacker, who is said to be aged between 35 and 40 years.

Maharashtra Minister of State for Home (Urban) Yogesh Kadam said robbery was the motive behind the incident and clarified no underworld gang was involved in the knife attack. The actor, who suffered multiple stab injuries, including in his neck, underwent an emergency surgery at Lilavati Hospital, where he was rushed in an autorickshaw.

"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.

"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.

Lilavati Hospital Chief Operating Officer (COO) Niraj Uttamani said Khan was soaked in blood, but walked into the hospital, also located in Bandra, "like a lion" and was accompanied by his eight-year-old son, Taimur. The actor didn't even use a stretcher, he disclosed. "He (Khan) was soaked in blood when he arrived in the hospital. But he walked in like a lion. He is a 'real hero'," Uttamani maintained. "He is very fortunate. If knife was 2 mm deeper, he would have sustained a serious injury," the COO added. Meanwhile, autorickshaw driver Bhajan Singh Rana, in whose vehicle the actor was rushed to the hospital, is hogging media limelight and is being hailed as a hero.

Rana said he was not aware that the passenger with blood-soaked ‘kurta’ he ferried to Lilavati Hospital was popular actor Khan, a Padma Shri awardee and recipient of several other honours. “It was only when we reached the hospital gate that he called the guard to fetch a stretcher, saying he was Saif Ali Khan,” the auto driver told reporters.

Rana said when he was passing by the building where the actor stayed, a woman and a few others asked him to stop the rickshaw. “Then the person whose white kurta was soaked in blood got in the auto. I noticed he had neck and back injuries, but did not notice the hand injury,” he said. “He (Saif) walked into the auto. There was a seven-eight year old boy who also boarded the rickshaw,” he said, when asked if the actor’s son Taimur accompanied him to the hospital.

The earlier plan was to go to the Holy Family Hospital in Bandra, but then Khan asked to be taken to Lilavati Hospital, the driver said. “When we reached the hospital, he called out to the guard at the gate and told him: 'Please bring a stretcher. I am Saif Ali Khan',” he said, adding the auto reached the hospital around 3 am.

A new video surfaced on Friday showing the attacker going upstairs in the actor's building with his face covered and carrying a bag. He was captured in CCTV cameras cautiously climbing the stairs at 1.37 am before intruding into the actor's house.