Saif Ali Khan stabbing case: Mumbai police questions woman in West Bengal

A Mumbai Police team on Monday questioned a woman in West Bengal's Nadia district in connection with the January 16 attack on Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan, a source said.

Police, however, clarified that no arrests were made in relation to the incident.

Makwana Meetkumar Sanjaykumar, Additional Superintendent of Police (HQ) for Krishnanagar Police District, confirmed, "No arrests were made in Nadia related to the attack."  An investigation into the attack on the actor revealed that the SIM card used by Bangladeshi national Shariful Fakir, arrested earlier in Mumbai for the assault, was registered in the name of a woman from West Bengal, police sources said.

 

The woman denied knowing the accused and claimed that she had lost the mobile phone containing the SIM several years ago in Kolkata, they added.

A two-member team of Mumbai Police, which arrived in West Bengal on Sunday, was looking for one Khukhumoni Jahangir Sheikh, under whose name the SIM card was registered.

Investigators are now working to determine how Fakir came to possess the SIM registered under her name, police sources said.

Khan, 53, was attacked in the early hours of January 16 at his Bandra residence in Mumbai, where he was stabbed six times. The actor was immediately hospitalised and underwent spinal and plastic surgeries at Lilavati Hospital. He was discharged on January 21.

On the other hand, father of a man who was detained in Durg in Chhattisgarh as a suspect in the January 16 Saif Ali Khan attack case slammed Mumbai police on Monday for "ruining my son's life".

Akash Kanojia (31), a driver, was detained from Mumbai Lokmanya Tilak Terminus-Kolkata Shalimar Jnaneshwari Express at Durg station by the Railway Protection Force on January 18 after a tip off from Mumbai police.  On the morning of January 19, Mumbai police arrested Bangladeshi national Shariful Islam Shehzad Mohammad Rohilla Amin Fakir alias Vijay Das from neighbouring Thane, after which the Durg RPF allowed Kanojia to go leave.  Kanjojia is a resident of Indiranagar chawl in Titwala in Thane district. "The police detained my son without verifying his identity. This mistake has ruined his life.  Now, due to the mental trauma, Akash is unable to focus on work or communicate with his family. He has become withdrawn, doesn't talk properly, and has lost all motivation," his father Kailash Kanojia said.  "People are saying there is no resemblance between my son and the actual accused. He lost his job and his marriage was called off. Who is responsible? The behaviour of the police has destroyed Akash's future," Kailash added.