A man believed to be a Bangladeshi national was arrested in India’s financial capital Mumbai on Sunday and is considered the main suspect in the stabbing of Bollywood star Saif Ali Khan, police said.
Thursday’s attack on Khan, one of India’s most bankable stars, shocked the country’s film industry and Mumbai residents, with many calling for better policing and security. Doctors said his life was out of danger.
“Initial evidence suggests that the accused is a Bangladeshi citizen and changed his name after entering India illegally,” Deputy Commissioner of Police Dixit Gedam told a press conference.
The suspect, who was arrested on the outskirts of Mumbai, used the name Vijay Das but was believed to be Mohammad Shariful Islam Shehzad and worked with a home economics agency after coming to the city five or six months ago, Gedam said.
Police will take the suspect into custody for further investigation, he added.
Star was stabbed to death in his own home
Khan, 54, was stabbed six times by a burglar while attempting to break into his home. He went to the hospital in blood-soaked clothes accompanied by his six-year-old son Taimur and then underwent surgery for wounds to his back, neck and hands, doctors said.
Doctors said on Friday that Khan was stable and out of danger after surgery.
“If the knife had penetrated further, there would have been an injury to the spine,” Niraj Uttamnani, one of the doctors who treated Khan, told reporters last week, adding that the actor escaped by a distance of only two millimeters .
Police in Mumbai arrested a first key suspect in the attack on Friday, while police in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh arrested a second person on Saturday.
Khan is the son of former Indian cricket captain Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi and actress Sharmila Tagore and one half of one of Bollywood’s biggest power couples. He and his wife Kareena Kapoor Khan have both starred in more than 60 films each, including some on which they worked together.
In an Instagram post last week, Kapoor Khan called on the media and paparazzi to “cease the relentless speculation and reporting,” saying the constant attention was overwhelming and posed “a significant risk to our safety.”
