Mumbai:
A third piece of a knife used to attack and injure Saif Ali Khan at his residence last week was recovered from a lake situated near the actor’s Bandra residence.
The police recovered the piece of knife from a trench near Bandra lake, which is around a kilometre away from the actor’s Satguru Sharan home. One piece of knife, measuring 2.5 inches, was recovered from the actor’s body during treatment at the Lilavati Hospital. Police took the accused Mohammad Shariful to the lake on Wednesday and remained at the spot for around one-and-a-half hours.
The police also questioned a salon owner from Worli Koliwada regarding Shariful visiting him to get a haircut after committing the crime, as per sources. The accused allegedly cut his hair and changed his appearance to remain under the radar. The 30-year-old Bangladeshi national illegally entered India last year and assumed the alias Vijay Das.
Mr Khan was attacked by Shariful on January 16 at his residence, while he was trying to protect his younger son Jeh during an attempted robbery. As per the child’s nanny’s statement to the police, the attacker had asked for an amount of Rs 1 crore. While an early assessment of CCTV footage could not find any trace of an intruder, the accused was traced through a stairwell CCTV camera. He had allegedly scaled the compound wall and snuck past security guards who were asleep.
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Mr Khan was rushed to Lilavati Hospital, where he underwent two surgeries, one to remove a piece of knife and another to stop the leakage of spinal fluid. He was discharged on Wednesday, before which he met auto-rickshaw driver Bhajan Singh Rana, who had rushed him to the hospital on the night of the attack.
Police have announced that multiple departments from the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) in Kalina will analyse key evidence related to the case, including mobile phones, the accused’s clothing, and CCTV footage. Various forensic departments will be involved in the examination, as investigators face challenges in interrogating Fakir due to language barriers On Tuesday, police reconstructed the sequence of events leading to the attack at Khan’s apartment building, ‘Satguru Sharan,’ with the accused briefly taken to a nearby location to recreate the crime scene.
Police on Tuesday also reconstructed the sequence of events of the crime unfolded at Khan’s building in Bandra. The accused was taken to a nearby building briefly during the recreation of the crime, the official added.
The Mumbai Police also found several fingerprints of the accused at the actor’s residence, on the stairs of the building, the door of the toilet, and the door handle of his son Jeh’s room. According to the police, the accused attempted to enter three houses before reaching Saif Ali Khan’s residence with the intent to steal.