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Khan was stabbed six times at his home early on Thursday. The intruder, who managed to enter the bedroom of the actor's son, demanded ?1 crore from the staff, who were inside the bedroom with the child when the incident happened.
According to the police, the accused, identified as Mohammad Shariful Islam Shahzad, alias Vijay Das (30), is an alleged Bangladeshi national who sneaked into India illegally around 5-6 months ago. The accused had entered the actor's residence with an intention to rob. Shehzad was employed with a housekeeping agency and doesn't have any previous antecedents. Upon entering India, he changed his name to Vijay Das to hide his Bangladeshi origin. "...there are some seizures which indicate that he is a Bangladeshi national. We have added certain sections of the Passport Act after the accused failed to provide any proof of his Indian nationality," DCP Dixit Gautam told the press.
Police claimed the accused had not conducted any reconnaissance before intruding the actor's 12 floor duplex flat. They suspect that Shahzad wasn't even aware that the house he entered to rob was that of Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor Khan. After learning from TV that he had attacked an actor, the accused was trying to flee to Bangladesh, police sources said.
A senior official told ET that they are probing if this was a premeditated crime. The role of an insider, if any, is being investigated. The police managed to get its initial lead through CCTV footage that showed Shahzad purchasing a mobile phone accessory from a shop. This helped the police trace his Mumbai whereabouts. However, on Friday, when the police teams arrived at his Worli-Koliwada house, Shahzad had already fled. Over 30 teams pressed into the case then fanned out tracking his mobile phone which he had subsequently switched off. One team finally managed to track him hiding in the mangrove covers in Thane. He was apprehended and taken into custody in the wee hours of Sunday.
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Later in the day, he was produced before a local court for want of custody to investigate how he managed to enter the building. They also contended that his custody was necessary to ascertain the exact motive and if he had any accomplices in both helping him secure an Indian identity and also in entering the actor's building.
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The police also told the court that Shahzad changed his clothes after committing the crime and also got rid of the objects he used to attack the actor and staff, including a wooden object and the remains of the hacksaw blade as a major part of the blade was stuck in Khan's back when the former attacked him.
The court granted his custody to police until January 24.
