The accused in Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan attack case, Shafiqul Islam, has been remanded to 5-day police custody by a court in Mumbai’s Bandra. The accused will remain under police custody till January 24. This comes after the Mumbai Police, investigating the case, sought his 14-day custody.
Shafiqul Islam (30) was arrested from Thane district in the wee hours of Sunday.
The Mumbai Police told court that the Islam was a Bangladeshi national and there was need to find the motive behind the heinous crime. Police also told court they needed to find out if there was an international conspiracy linked to the case.
Accepting the police’s contention after perusing documents on record, the court said the prosecution’s submission of international conspiracy “cannot be said to be impossible”.
Satisfied By Police’s Demand Of Accused’s Custody: Court
While passing the order, the Bandra Holiday Court observed that the demand of accused’s police custody is justified as “it is an early stage of investigation.”
The court ruled, “We are satisfied by the demand of Mumbai Police. The accused has entered inside the residence of a celebrity and attacked him. The police need to recover the clothes worn by him on that day. Hence, custodial interrogation is required. The police also needs to recover the knife that was used by the accused. The learned defence council has said that no notice was given to the accused U/S43A of the BNS.”
The court added, “After having considered the submission of the defence and the prosecution i find that they are well founded allegations. The investigation is at early stage. The accused has been arrested earlier today. The police therefore are justified in asking sufficient period for an investigation.”
Accused Arrested From Thane
Earlier in the day, Mumbai Police identified the attacker as Mohammad Shariful Islam Shehzad, a Bangladeshi national who is accused of entering India illegally and changing his name. Shafiqul Islam, was apprehended in the Labour Camp area of adjoining Thane city.
As per preliminary probe, he had entered the Bollywood star’s home, in Satguru Sharan building in Bandra, in the early hours of January 16 with the intention of robbery, police said while addressing a press conference earlier in the day.
Police revealed that that he had been working as housekeeping staff at Ricky’s bar in Thane and used the different names to avoid detection
Saif Attacked Multiple Times
Saif Ali Khan was stabbed six times, including in his neck and shoulder, at his Bandra West apartment around 2:30 am on Thursday. He was rushed to the Lilavati Hospital for treatment where a 2.5-inch piece of the blade was removed from his spine after a five-hour-long surgery.
