MUMBAI: Shariful Fakir, a Bangladeshi national accused of breaking into actor Saif Ali Khan‘s home and stabbing him, turned to crime out of sheer desperation caused by extreme poverty. Police said he randomly chose the actor’s residence to steal money to support his ailing mother after losing his housekeeping job in December.
Actor Saif Ali Khan, who was stabbed six times by Shariful at his Bandra residence last Thursday, was discharged from Lilavati Hospital on Tuesday. The 54-year-old underwent emergency surgeries, including one to remove a nearly 3-inch knife tip lodged in his thoracic spine.
Just hours before Saif’s return home, the police escorted the accused, Shariful Fakir—an illegal Bangladeshi migrant—for a reconstruction of the crime at the actor’s building, Satguru Sharan. During the reconstruction, Shariful revealed he entered the 11th-floor flat through an open window, noticing the bathroom light was on. He claimed he had no intention of causing harm but stabbed Saif in a panic when the actor grabbed him.
Here’s all you need to know:
‘Stabbed him because he grabbed me’
Bandra police, escorting accused Shariful Fakir, conducted a reconstruction of the attack on Saif Ali Khan at the actor’s residential building, Satguru Sharan, in Bandra (West) between 5:30 am and 6:30 am on Tuesday.
Police said Shariful retraced his actions between 1:30 am and 2:30 am last Thursday (Jan 16), giving them insight into the sequence of events leading to the crime.
Rs 1 crore makes how many bundles? Fakir had no clue.
During the enactment, Shariful Fakir told police he demanded Rs 1 crore from staff nurse Eliyamma Phillip. His naivety was apparent when he said he believed the amount might only be in “two or three bundles of notes,” said police.
Motive
Police said Shariful claimed he had no intention to cause harm to anybody and was only seeking money.
“He panicked when he unexpectedly grabbed Saif, leading to the stabbing,” said police.
Crime scene reconstruction
Enactment by Shariful Fakir, as per police:
- Starts near the front gate of Satguru Sharan.
- Goes to the adjacent building.
- Jumps a four-foot wall to enter Saif’s building.
- Notices a security guard sleeping on the premises.
Sequence
- Sees another guard in the building’s entry corridor.
- Using a ladder, goes up 12th to access a duct.
- Inside the duct, reaches the fourth floor, uses a knife to hack, and gains access to the area.
- Takes the stairs till the 10th floor and enters a pipe to reach the 11th-floor flat.
Details during enactment
Demonstrates charging at staff nurse Eliyamma Philip to reenact the confrontation.
Describes his motions when Saif grabbed him, leading to the stabbing.
Re-enters the duct and ascends a pipe to enter the 11th-floor flat of Saif’s quadruplex through a bathroom window.
Confrontation with Saif, leading to the stabbing
According to Shariful’s enactment, he shows he stabbed Saif’s back at the same place as the injury recorded on Jan 16.
Post-reconstruction stage
- After the enactment, police take Shariful to a garden on the building’s premises, where he alleged he briefly rested.
- Before walking to Sadhu Vaswani Petrol Pump and then to a hotel in Khar and later to a bus stop outside National College, where he stayed around 4 am.
- He then went to Bandra railway station and, around 6 am, boarded a train to Dadar to head for Worli.
