MUMBAI: On Monday, the police announced plans to reenact the sequence of events leading to the knife attack on Saif Ali Khan, ensuring that neither the actor nor his family has to endure additional mental distress stemming from last week’s violent incident.
“We must be sensitive to the trauma experienced by the actor and his family. Every measure will be put in place to minimize the psychological impact while reconstructing the timeline at the crime scene,” stated an officer.
A substantial police task force of 150 individuals successfully identified the suspect, Shariful Fakir, a Bangladeshi citizen believed to be residing in the country illegally, during an extensive search operation in a marshy area on the outskirts of Thane early Sunday.
The police possess solid evidence suggesting that Shariful may have had a criminal background in Bangladesh. “He was in possession of burglary tools, including hammers and a knife. The CCTV footage captures him ascending the building barefoot but descending in his shoes. This suggests he was cautious, carrying his shoes in a bag while climbing up the pipes,” an officer explained.
In Bangladesh, Shariful has two brothers, and his parents live there as well. He is not married and lacks relatives in India. The police have yet to discover any Indian identification documents related to him.
“A day after the incident, Shariful noticed his images being shown on television news. Realizing that law enforcement was on his trail, he panicked and went into hiding in Thane, planning to board the Geetanjali Express to Howrah and cross the border back to Bangladesh,” an officer recounted.
Before Shariful could execute his escape, the police team apprehended him.
A group of 75 policemen engaged in the investigation was honored on Monday by joint police commissioner (law and order) Satyanarayan.
The incident sparked ongoing political criticism, with Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Aaditya Thackeray targeting the central and state governments regarding the suspect’s Bangladeshi nationality. Thackeray expressed concern about the man being an illegal immigrant from Bangladesh.
He emphasized that the home departments at both the Centre and state levels have been under the BJP’s control for the last decade, suggesting that the party cannot evade responsibility for the illegal immigration issue.
“The protection of illegal cross-border immigration lies with the federal government, which has evidently neglected this issue for the past ten years,” Thackeray stated in a post on X.
“Those from any political party attempting to politicize this matter should hold the central government accountable for its failure to address illegal immigration from Bangladesh. The Centre must disclose accurate statistics on illegal immigrants from Bangladesh currently residing in our country and report how many have been deported in the last decade and what measures are being taken now,” he continued.
