The actor walking back home ‘normally’, waving to the waiting cameras while smiling, has led to queries about the crime getting sharper
Actor Saif Ali Khan was discharged from hospital five days after undergoing surgery. (Image: ANI)
“Has the medical sector progressed so much that Saif Ali Khan comes to his home jumping and dancing (after the attack)?” –Sanjay Nirupam, Shiv Sena
“How did victim of such a vicious attack come out of the hospital in 3-4 days…smiling? People are calling me and asking…there must be some secret here…..” –Waris Pathan, AIMIM
“Stabbed or just acting?” –Nitesh Rane, Maharashtra minister
Mainstream politicians of Mumbai are now echoing what conspiracy theorists on social media posted ever since actor Saif Ali Khan came home from hospital following a knife attack on him. The actor walking back home “normally”, waving to the waiting cameras while smiling, has led to these queries about the crime getting sharper.
Questions have been raised about:
- The nature of injury
- Why Saif’s eight-year-old son was tasked with escorting his injured father to the hospital
- How the accused managed to climb up to the 11th floor
- Where Kareena Kapoor Khan was at the time of the crime
- If the CCTV footage and the picture of the suspect in custody matched
- Why bloodstains are not visible on the suspect in the CCTV grab when Saif apparently was soaked in blood when he reached the hospital
The questions seem to suggest a cover-up by Mumbai police. Allegations have been made that the family may not have revealed the full truth. But is this a case of a cover-up?
Police confident of catching right man
Mumbai police arrested Shariful Islam three days after the attack. Several false starts and wrong detentions later, Shariful was found hiding in Thane’s marshlands.
Police claim to have recovered more than a dozen fingerprints of Shariful from the room where the stabbing happened. A face cover he was wearing has also been found at the crime scene. Other than Saif Ali Khan, there are at least four other adult witnesses who can identify the attacker.
Police told the court that it is trying to recover the broken piece of knife blade that was used to stab Saif. A material piece of evidence recovered at the instance of the accused is crucial for the prosecution to prove its case.
Technical evidence
Other than the material evidence, the police are also relying on CCTV footage to prove their charge against Shariful. The sixth floor of the building caught the suspect fleeing. Another CCTV grab from Andheri, a UPI payment made for a parantha, and subsequent tracking of the mobile device of the suspect led police to the alleged attacker.
Many social media users have claimed that the suspect produced before a court does not appear to be the same as the man caught on camera. Police claim there was “a deliberate attempt to mislead”. Shariful allegedly had a haircut and changed clothes repeatedly to hoodwink police.
How did he gain entry into celebrity’s home?
Can a non-history-sheeter climb a multi-storey building and enter a celebrity home without being challenged? As incredulous as it may sound, the investigation suggests that security was lax at Satguru Sharan, the building where the Khans reside. As per the initial probe, the guards on duty were asleep, making it easy for Shariful to jump over the compound wall. He climbed a pipe, a shaft, and an AC duct to enter the bathroom of Jehangir Khan, the youngest son of Saif and Kareena. Police claim that he had taken off his shoes and switched his mobile phone off to avoid any noise. During the recreation of the crime scene, he reportedly told police that he again used the AC duct to escape when Saif Ali Khan locked him up in a room after the scuffle.
The onus is on the police now to procure circumstantial, material, and technical evidence to prove this “confession” that the suspect allegedly made during interrogation. Former police officials, however, told CNN-News18 that, having recced the building and attempting to enter other similar buildings in the vicinity, Shariful may have concluded that security was lax and hence took his chance.
Family under scanner
As per the attending doctor of Saif Ali Khan and the autorickshaw driver who drove him to the hospital, eight-year-old Taimur escorted the actor along with another man. Questions have been asked as to why a child was given the task of taking a profusely bleeding man to the hospital in an auto. Was the actor’s wife, Kareena Kapoor Khan, not at home? A social media post by the actor and her friends shows Kareena on a “girls’ night out” on the night of the crime.
This has fuelled speculation and conspiracy theories.
But the statement of the nanny, Eliyama Philip, has negated such theories. Philip said both Saif and Kareena rushed to Jehangir’s bedroom after hearing the commotion. A paparazzi video captured soon after the crime shows Kareena pacing in the foyer of their building. Why did she then not accompany Saif to the hospital? The social media scrutinisers ask.
The intense scrutiny of the family and its decisions during the emergency are no surprise. Families of Sushant Singh Rajput, Rhea Chakraborty, and Shah Rukh Khan have all faced this invasion of private space when faced with criminal investigations.
Kareena Kapoor, through her social media post, has requested some privacy for the family to face this crisis. But will the invasive “experts” wait till the police chargesheet to see if unanswered questions have been answered to the satisfaction of the courts?
