'Strong Evidence...': Cops Give BIG Update In Saif Stabbing Case Amid Claims Of Fingerprint Mismatch

Saif Ali Khan Stabbing Case: Fresh updates have emerged in the Saif Ali Khan stabbing case where the Mumbai Police have claimed that they have strong evidence against the Bangladeshi national arrested in the case. Saif Ali Khan was attacked in the early hours of January 16 at his Bandra residence in Mumbai, where he was stabbed six times. On January 19, the police arrested Bangladeshi national Shariful Islam Shehzad Mohammad Rohilla Amin Fakir alias Vijay Das from neighbouring Thane in this connection.

The Mumbai Police shared fresh details after reports claiming that the sets of fingerprints collected from the actor’s house do not match the accused's fingerprints surfaced. Clearing the air, the police categorically denied the claims, saying that an official report on fingerprints is still awaited.

Giving an update on the investigation in the case, Additional Commissioner of Police (West Region) Paramjit Dahiya said during a press conference that it was an "excellent, proof-based detection" made by DCP Zone 9 team along with the crime branch. "The Mumbai police have ample and strong evidence against the accused person, including documentary, physical and technical," he said.

"As for ascertaining the identity of the accused as part of evidence collection before the filing of the chargesheet, the police have an option of face recognition and we will explore it," he said. "During the investigation of the case, the police did not find any other associate with him (the accused)," Dahiya said. The police are questioning the people he was in contact with, he further stated.

"We have sent the samples of fingerprints to the Crime Investigation Department (CID). As on today, we have not received any official report about his fingerprints," he said. "The arrested accused is the same (person involved in the attack) and the police have oral, physical and technical evidence against him," he said adding that they will produce all the evidence before the court.

Last week, Mohammad Ruhul, the father of Shariful Islam, claimed that his son was being framed in the case and that he would soon approach Bangladesh's foreign ministry and the Indian High Commission for his release.

Ruhul alleged that the man seen in the CCTV camera footage was not Shariful. He also said his son did not have proper documentation for his stay in India and he lived in constant fear of being arrested.

A Mumbai court last week extended till January 29 the police custody of Shariful. The police informed the court that they had to conduct facial recognition of the man to ascertain if he was the person seen in the CCTV camera footage from the actor's building. The police have recorded the statements of Khan, his wife Kareena Kapoor Khan and the house staff in connection with the attack.

Meanwhile, a West Bengal-based woman, whose mobile phone SIM was used by Shariful Islam, has told police she had lost her cellphone, an official said on Monday. The official maintained the police were "100 percent" sure that it was Shariful who attacked the 54-year-old Bollywood star.

A Mumbai police team visited the Nadia and Murshidabad districts of West Bengal as part of their investigation into the January 16 knife attack on Khan in his 12th floor apartment in Bandra during a robbery attempt.

The police later arrested Shariful, a Bangladeshi man who illegally entered India last year, from adjoining Thane city for the attack, and he is in their custody till January 29. During the probe, the police came to know about a woman whose SIM card was used by the arrested accused for making calls and recorded her statement, the official said. In the statement, the woman claimed she had lost her mobile phone and the police were verifying her assertion, he added.

The police are "100 percent" sure that it was Shariful who attacked Khan and he was armed with a hacksaw blade and a knife too, insisted the official. The police team will go to places in West Bengal where Shariful stayed after crossing over from the neighbouring country, he added.

(With PTI Inputs)