Mumbai: Bollywood star Saif Ali Khan was repeatedly stabbed by an intruder in his high-rise apartment in upscale Bandra early Thursday and rushed to hospital with the blade still lodged in his spine, an audacious attack that raises intriguing questions about security and celebrity life in the financial and showbiz hub.
The 54-year-old, who received six stab injuries, including in his neck, was out of danger following an emergency surgery at the Lilavati Hospital where he was taken after the attack outside his younger son Jeh’s room around 2.30 am.
The entire family was home on the 12th floor apartment along with their five house helps.
In a statement to the police, Jeh’s nanny Eliyama Philip, who first encountered the armed attacker, said he asked for Rs 1 crore.
The intruder did not force his entry or break into the actor’s flat but possibly sneaked in at some point during the night with the intention of robbery, police officials said. The attacker, who made his escape through the stairs, remains on the run.
Recounting the horrific events of the night, Philip said she was sleeping on the floor in Jeh’s room and woke up around 2 am when she heard a sound and saw a man move towards the sleeping child. Panicked, she rushed to pick him up and was pushed away by the man, armed with a wooden stick and a long Hexa blade. Another nanny was also sleeping in the same room.
“I sat up to see who was in the bathroom… I saw a thin and short man come out and go towards Jeh’s bed,” Philip said in the statement that forms the basis of the police FIR on the incident.
The man, she said, pointed a finger at her and warned her, “Koi awaz nahin (don’t make any noise).”
“In the scuffle, he attacked me with the blade. I got injured on my wrist. I asked him what he wants. He said he wants money and that he needs Rs 1 crore,” Philip, who has been working with the star couple for four years, said in her statement.
Hearing her scream, Khan and Kareena rushed out of their room. The intruder, who Philip said, was between 35-40 years old, then attacked Khan with a knife. During the commotion, another house help also rushed out to raise an alarm. The intruder then ran away.
Closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera footage showed the alleged assailant, wearing a red scarf and carrying a backpack, scurrying down the stairs from the sixth floor of the Satguru Sharan building.
At least 10 police teams were formed to untangle the sensational crime targeting the ‘Dil Chahta Hai’ actor and his family, amongst the most high profile and most photographed in Mumbai.
As police questioned guards and house helps and concern mounted, doctors said he was on “100% recovery path”. It was a narrow, miraculous escape. A 2.5-inch piece of the blade was removed from his spine, doctors at the Lilavati Hospital said.
“He sustained six injuries, two are minor, two intermediate and two deep injuries. One of the injuries is on the back which is close to the spine,” the hospital’s chief operating officer Dr Niraj Uttamani said.
Khan had been shifted to the ICU and could be moved out to a room in a day or two, he said.
“Saif sustained a major injury to his thoracic spine (middle section) due to a knife… Surgery was performed to remove the knife and also to repair the leaking spinal fluid,” explained Dr Nitin Dange, a neuro surgeon, who led the team of doctors operating on Khan.
“There were two other deep wounds in his left hand and right side of the neck which were repaired by the plastic surgery team,” he said.
Khan, who was awarded a Padma Shri in 2010, was taken to the hospital in an autorickshaw.
The incident, which sent shockwaves through Mumbai and elsewhere and highlighted the vulnerability of even well-guarded celebrities, led to reactions from across all sectors.
Opposition leaders said even celebrities were not safe in India’s financial capital and blamed Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who holds the home portfolio, for failing to maintain law and order.
Fadnavis responded by saying that the attack was serious but it would be incorrect to call Mumbai unsafe.
