Prowler sneaks into home, stabs actor; Khan safe

Encounter specialist Daya Nayak leads the investigation

Mumbai: In a sensational development, an alleged cat burglar pussyfooted into Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan’s Bandra home early on Thursday morning and stabbed him six times before fleeing the place, shocking the film and political fraternity.

The chilling incident happened around 2 am when the burglar hopped onto a 7-8 feet tall boundary wall of an adjoining bungalow, entered the building compound, took the stairs to the royal Khan’s 11th floor residence in the posh ‘Satguru Sharan’, slipping past the building security guards, CCTVs and some private security personnel.

Though it is not clear how he managed to enter the Khan flat – police are probing a possible ‘inside’ hand – it is suspected that a woman employee may have let him inside.

There the duo ostensibly had an altercation in which the intruder attacked the woman who let out a scream, alerting Saif who was asleep in his bedroom and he darted outside to check on the commotion.

As per officials, Saif intervened to stop the intruder, who turned back and brutally pounced on him with a small knife.

In the ensuing scuffle, the thief ended up stabbing Saif multiple times, and also hit the maid before dashing away from there, even as other stunned Khan family members rushed out of their rooms.

Saif, 55, who suffered two serious wounds including one 10 cms long, two intermediate gashes and two abrasions on the neck and arms, was rushed to the Lilavati Hospital by his son in an auto rickshaw as their car was not ready for treatment and a surgery later in the morning.

Later in the evening, the police recovered a CCTV grab of the assailant who was sporting a dark t-shirt and trousers, a backpack and his face clearly visible, and some unconfirmed reports suggested that he was hiding in the flat for several hours.

Lilavati Hospital COO Dr. Niraj Uttamani and Dr. Nitin Dange said that the doctors extracted a piece of the knife blade which snapped and got embedded dangerously near the actor’s spine.

The surgery involved removing the knife piece of around 3 inches, stopping the leakage in the spinal fluid and conducting plastic surgery to repair the wounds.

Dr. Uttamani announced that the actor was safe, stable and recovering well, he was shifted to the ICU for one day’s observation after which the further course of treatment will be decided.

Zone IX Deputy Commissioner of Police Dixit Gedam who rushed to the spot said that from preliminary investigations, the motive behind the murderous attack appeared to be robbery, but ruled out a mafia angle.