Saif attack: Police have ‘strong evidence’ against arrested man

The Mumbai police probing the attack on film actor Saif Ali Khan said they have ample and strong evidence against the Bangladeshi national arrested in the case.

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Khan was attacked in the early hours of January 16 at his Bandra residence in Mumbai, where he was stabbed six times. On January 19, the police arrested Bangladeshi national Shariful Islam Shehzad Mohammad Rohilla Amin Fakir alias Vijay Das from neighbouring Thane in this connection.

In a press conference, Additional Commissioner of Police (West Region) Paramjit Dahiya shared the development in the probe, and said it was an "excellent, proof-based detection" made by DCP Zone 9 team along with the crime branch.

"The Mumbai police have ample and strong evidence against the accused person, including documentary, physical and technical," he said.

"As for ascertaining the identity of the accused as part of evidence collection before the filing of the chargesheet, the police have an option of face recognition and we will explore it," he said.

"During the investigation of the case, the police did not find any other associate with him (the accused)," Dahiya said.

The police are questioning the people he was in contact with, he added.

"We have sent the samples of fingerprints to the Crime Investigation Department (CID). As on today, we have not received any official report about his fingerprints," he said.

"The arrested accused is the same (person involved in the attack) and the police have oral, physical and technical evidence against him," he said, adding that they would produce all the evidence before the court.

Last week, Mohammad Ruhul, the father of Shariful Islam, claimed that his son was being framed in the case and that he would soon approach Bangladesh's foreign ministry and the Indian High Commission for his release.

Ruhul alleged that the man seen in the CCTV camera footage was not Shariful.

He also said his son did not have proper documentation for his stay in India and he lived in constant fear of being arrested.

A Mumbai court last week extended till January 29 the police custody of Shariful. The police informed the court that they had to conduct facial recognition of the man to ascertain if he was the person seen in the CCTV camera footage from the actor's building.

The police have recorded the statements of Khan, his wife Kareena Kapoor Khan and the house staff in connection with the attack.