A man believed to be a citizen of Bangladesh was arrested on Sunday in Mumbai, India’s financial capital, and is considered the main suspect in the murder of Bollywood star Saif Ali Khan, police said.
Thursday’s attack on Khan, one of India’s most profitable stars, shocked the domestic film industry and Mumbai residents, many of whom are calling for better policing and security. He was out of danger, according to doctors.
“Primary evidence suggests that the accused is a citizen of Bangladesh and after entering India illegally, he changed his name,” Dixit Gedam, deputy commissioner of police, told a press conference.
The suspect, arrested in suburban Mumbai, used the name Vijay Das, but was probably Mohammad Shariful Islam Shehzad and worked for a housekeeping agency after arriving in the city five or six months ago , Gedam said.
Police will seek custody of the suspect for further investigation, he added.
Star stabbed in her own home
Khan, 54, was stabbed six times by an intruder during an attempted burglary at his home. He entered the hospital wearing blood-soaked clothes, accompanied by his six-year-old son Taimur, and was later operated on for injuries to his back, neck and hands, doctors said.
Doctors said Friday that Khan was stable and out of danger after the operation.
“If the knife had penetrated further, there would have been a spinal injury,” Niraj Uttamnani, one of the doctors who treated Khan, told reporters last week, adding that the actor did not had escaped by only two millimeters.
Mumbai police 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 is part of one of Bollywood’s biggest power couples. He and his wife, Kareena Kapoor Khan, have both starred in over 60 films each, a few of which they worked on together.
In an Instagram post Last week, Kapoor Khan called on the media and paparazzi to “refrain from speculation and incessant media coverage”, saying the constant attention is overwhelming and poses “a significant risk to our safety”.
