Saif's attacker gets five-day police custody, tells court he is being framed

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A Mumbai court today granted the city police five-day custody of Shariful Islam Shehzad, who has been arrested for allegedly breaking into the home of actor Saif Ali Khan and injuring him and his staff during a burglary attempt late on Wednesday night.


The accused, a Bangladeshi national, was arrested early this morning after police tracked him down to Thane. Shariful, police have said, crossed into India illegally and had been living in Mumbai for the past few months under the false name of Bijoy Das.


Hours after his arrest, he was produced in court. Police told the court that Shariful entered India illegally and added that they were investigating who helped him and aided him here. The court is also probing the accused's acquaintances in Mumbai.


Seeking Shariful's 14-day custody, police said they found out he was a Bangladeshi national after his arrest.


The 54-year-old actor has suffered six stab injuries, one of them near his spine, in the shocking attack. Police have said the knife used in the attack broke into three pieces, one of which is yet to be found. One of the shards has been recovered from Mr Khan's body.


Police also told the court that they suspect that Shariful has hidden the clothes he wore that day because they had blood stains after his fight with Mr Khan. They said the clothes need to be recovered so that blood samples could be matched. 


The public prosecutor said the accused was aware of the fact that the Bandra locality where Saif Ali Khan lives with his family was home to several celebrities and tight security was in place. Despite this, he managed to break into the actor's house, police said, stressing that the accused acted on a plan.


The lawyer representing the accused told the court that the allegations against him were false and that the matter is in focus because a celebrity has been targeted. The accused's lawyer said he was being made a scapegoat in the high profile case.


Dinesh Prajapati, who represented the accused, told the media, "We have said in his defence that nothing has been recovered from him. They have not produced any document to prove he is a Bangladeshi national.