LIVE | Knife attack on Saif: Intruder entered son Jeh’s room, demanded Rs 1 crore
Actor sustained six stab injuries including one on his left hand and another on his neck
Actor Saif Ali Khan, who on Thursday (January 16) sustained six stab injuries after being repeatedly stabbed by an intruder at his Bandra West home, has been declared out of danger by doctors of Mumbai’s Lilavati Hospital following surgery.
Speaking to reporters, Lilavati Hospital's Chief Operating Officer (COO) Dr Niraj Uttamani said Saif, 54, was on the path of recovery following the emergency surgery and is currently in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the hospital.
"We removed a 2.5-inch piece of knife from the spine," Uttamani said adding that the actor had two severe and two intermediate injuries and as many abrasions.
The injuries were deep, however, doctors at the hospital managed to do the surgery well, he said, adding that a neurosurgery and a plastic surgery have been performed.
‘Major injury to thoracic spine’
Dr Nitin Dange, neurosurgeon at the Lilavati Hospital, said Khan had sustained a major injury to his "thoracic spine." "He sustained a major injury to his thoracic spine due to a knife lodged in his spine. Surgery was performed to remove the knife and also to repair the leaking spinal fluid. There were two other deep wounds on his left hand and right side of the neck which were repaired by the plastic surgery team," he said.
"Khan is completely stable now. He is in recovery mode and is completely out of danger. We will shift him out of the ICU tomorrow morning and maybe plan a discharge in a day or two," he added.
While several Bollywood actors have offered sympathies to the actor’s family, Opposition politicians have lashed out at the Devendra Fadnavis government for allegedly failing to maintain law and order situation in the state.
Not right to call Mumbai unsafe: CM Fadnavis
Many have also linked the attack to the firing outside actor Salman Khan’s house and the murder of former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique last year.
Fadnavis, while dubbing the attack as a serious incident, has, however, said that it doesn’t signify that Mumbai is unsafe.
“I think Mumbai is the safest among mega cities in the country. It is true that some incidents take place sometimes, and they must be taken seriously. But to say that Mumbai is unsafe due to such incidents is not right,” he told the media.
Also read | Saif attack: How did intruder breach 4 levels of security?
Suspect sneaked into house, shows CCTV footage
Meanwhile, Mumbai Police said they have identified the suspect and would disclose more details once the arrest is made.
CCTV visuals of the unidentified intruder have been traced and 10 teams have been formed to investigate the offence, police said.
As per the preliminary probe, the intruder did not force his entry or break into the actor's 12th floor flat in Satguru Sharan building, but possibly sneaked in at some point earlier in the night, a police official said.
After the incident that took place around 2.30 am, the attacker took the staircase to escape. His CCTV visuals were traced on the sixth floor, police sources said.
Khan’s house help injured
Khan's house-help, who raised initial alarm, suffered a minor knife injury during the scuffle. She later visited the police station to lodge a complaint for alleged attempted murder and trespassing. Police, however, did not confirm the sections under which the FIR was registered.
The actor's representatives, in a media statement, said it was a "burglary attempt."
How the attack happened?
The incident occurred at around 2.30 am on Thursday. Saif, 54, was asleep on the 11th floor of his residence in Bandra (West) when some sounds woke him up.
He found the intruder having a confrontation with one of the maids. When the actor tried to intervene and pacify the intruder, the latter allegedly attacked him in a fit of rage, stabbing Saif six times before fleeing the scene.
Saif’s wife Kareena Kapoor Khan was out for dinner with sister Karishma Kapoor and friends Sonam and Rhea Kapoor on Wednesday evening and returned home at around 1.30 AM.
As the family gathered around a bleeding Saif, his son Ibrahim, not wanting to waste time waiting for the car, hailed an auto-rickshaw to rush his father to the Lilavati Hospital, roughly 2.2 km from Saif’s residence.
Bandra Police have said they received a call about the attack at 3 am. The actor was brought to Lilavati Hospital at around 3.30 am.
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Live Updates
- 16 Jan 2025 5:47 PM IST
#WATCH | Delhi: On AAP National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal's statements on the attack on Actor Saif Ali Khan, Union Minister Manohar Lal Khattar says, " If he wants to see the double engine govt, he should go and look in Haryana...we implemented various schemes for the welfare of… pic.twitter.com/BwoKhVd3P0
— ANI (@ANI) January 16, 2025 - 16 Jan 2025 5:35 PM IST
#WATCH | On the attack on actor #SaifAliKhan, Odia actor and BJP MLA Sidhant Mohapatra says, "It's quite unfortunate. I pray to God for his speedy recovery. Right now, I don't know exactly with what intention this has been done by the criminal. I think the Police is good enough… pic.twitter.com/HwDFc54fnc
— ANI (@ANI) January 16, 2025 - 16 Jan 2025 5:35 PM IST
Mumbai becoming crime capital: Pramod Tiwari
Mumbai is becoming a capital of crime... It seems that no one is safe in Delhi. The law-and-order situation there is in shambles.... This is a complete failure of BJP: Congress leader Pramod Tiwari
- 16 Jan 2025 4:47 PM IST
Police find visuals of intruder; `no forced entry in house'
CCTV visuals of the unidentified intruder who repeatedly stabbed actor Saif Ali Khan inside his house in Mumbai's Bandra area early Thursday morning have been traced and 10 teams have been formed to investigate the offence, police said.
As per the preliminary probe, the intruder did not force his entry or break into the actor's 12th floor flat in Satguru Sharan building, but possibly sneaked in at some point earlier in the night, a police official said.
After the incident that took place around 2.30 am, the attacker took the staircase to escape. His CCTV visuals were traced on the sixth floor, police sources said.
Khan's house-help, who raised initial alarm, suffered a minor knife injury during the scuffle. She later visited the police station to lodge a complaint for alleged attempted murder and trespassing. Police, however, did not confirm the sections under which the First Information Report was registered.
The actor's representatives, in a media statement, said it was a "burglary attempt." As per the doctors at the Lilavati Hospital where Khan was rushed, he was out of danger after undergoing a surgery for removing the knife stuck in his back.
- 16 Jan 2025 4:41 PM IST
Oppn politicising issue; no need to link it to attacks on Baba Siddique, Salman Khan: Minister
Maharashtra Minister of State for Home Yogesh Kadam on Thursday said the opposition was trying to politicise the attack on actor Saif Ali Khan, and claimed a wrong angle was being given to the case because of the actor's surname.
The incident was a "theft attempt", and the culprit has been identified and will be nabbed soon, Kadam told a TV channel.
Mumbai is a safe place, the minister asserted, and claimed the opposition was trying to malign the police.
Kadam said there was no need to link the attack on Saif Ali Khan to former state minister Baba Siddique's murder and threats issued to actor Salman Khan.
"The intruder has been identified and will be nabbed soon," he said and claimed that because of the actor's Khan surname, a wrong angle was being given to the case.
"The opposition only wants to politicise the incident. Mumbai is safe and the opposition is maligning the police," he added.
NCP (SP) leader Jitendra Awhad claimed the kind of injuries sustained by Saif Ali Khan shows the attacker wanted to kill him.
In a post on X, Awhad, who is the group leader of the opposition NCP (SP) in the Maharashtra assembly, claimed Khan has been targeted by fundamentalists over the naming of his son as Taimur.
Khan has suffered six injuries out of which two are severe and one is in his spine, he said.
"Prima facie it shows that the attacker wanted to kill him," Awhad said, adding that it needs to be probed if the attack was pre-planned.
- 16 Jan 2025 4:38 PM IST
Crimes on rise, but Fadnavis busy promoting films: Maharashtra Congress chief
Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole on Thursday claimed the attack on actor Saif Ali Khan has exposed the “breakdown” in law and order in Maharashtra, where he said celebrities, leaders of the ruling party, and citizens are unsafe.
The Congress leader demanded that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, whom he termed “ineffective” and "weak", resign as the home minister as the rising crime rate in the state reflects the government’s failure.
The chief minister should have the courage to take concrete action instead of making hollow statements, Patole said in a statement.
Patole said the attack on the Padma Shri award-winning actor is a glaring example of the “breakdown” of law and order in Maharashtra.
“If such incidents occur in the bustling area of Bandra in Mumbai, who is safe in the city? Looking at the increasing crime rates in Mumbai, Pune, Beed, Parbhani, and Nagpur, one wonders if there is a home minister in the state at all,” Patole said.
The BJP-led Mahayuti government has allowed lawlessness to thrive, and the attack on Khan is a direct challenge to the state's law and order machinery by criminals, he claimed.
The Congress leader said criminals have become brazen under the BJP regime. “The Chief Minister and Home Minister Devendra Fadnavis along with their favoured Director General of Police, have proven to be utterly ineffective,” he said.
Despite having two police commissioners in Mumbai, neither the state nor Mumbai has an effective law and order machinery.
“The growing organised crime in Beed, political backing for criminals, custodial deaths in Parbhani, the assassination of former minister Baba Siddique in Bandra, and the firing at Salman Khan's residence are serious incidents. Fadnavis has failed as the Home Minister. In Maharashtra, celebrities, leaders of the ruling party, and common citizens alike are unsafe,” he claimed.
Instead of repeating statements like “criminals won’t be spared; strict action will be taken”, the chief minister must muster the courage to take strong action, said Patole.
“With rising crime rates in the state, it is evident that Fadnavis is not taking the situation seriously. After the life-threatening attack on actor Saif Ali Khan, rather than addressing the issue, CM Fadnavis was busy promoting films,” claimed the Congress leader, referring to Fadnavis attending a special screening of Kangana Ranaut's movie Emergency.
- 16 Jan 2025 4:35 PM IST
Attack on Saif serious incident, but wrong to brand Mumbai as unsafe: CM Fadnavis
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has said the attack on Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan by an intruder at his home was a serious incident, but it would be wrong to call Mumbai unsafe because of it.
Police were taking action, and the government will take steps to make the country's financial capital safer, said Fadnavis, who holds the home portfolio.
"I think Mumbai is the safest among mega cities in the country. It is true that some incidents take place sometimes, and they must be taken seriously. But to say that Mumbai is unsafe due to such incidents is not right," Fadnavis told reporters.
"Mumbai's image gets maligned (due to such comments). But, to make the city safer, the government will certainly make efforts," he further said.
He was talking to the media after attending a special screening of Kangana Ranaut-directed film 'Emergency'.
Opposition leaders including state Congress chief Nana Patole have targeted Fadnavis over the attack on Saif Ali Khan, demanding his resignation as home minister.
- 16 Jan 2025 4:05 PM IST
Trust law will take its course: Mamata
It’s very concerning to hear about the attack on noted actor Saif Ali Khan. I pray for his speedy recovery, trusting that the law will take its course and those responsible will be held accountable. My thoughts and prayers are with Sharmila Di, Kareena Kapoor, and the entire family during this difficult time: West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee
