Saif Stabbing Case: Police To Perform Facial Recognition On Attacker; Custody Extended Until January 29

On Friday, Mumbai police informed a court that they would conduct a facial recognition test on the Bangladeshi man arrested for allegedly stabbing Saif Ali Khan🅰 last week, in order to confirm if he matches the individual seen in CCTV footage from the actor’s Bandra residence.

๊The accused, Shareeful Islam Shehzad Mohammad Rohilla Amin Fakir (30), was presented before a magistrate's court, which extended his police custody until January 29. Fakir was arrested on January 19 for allegedly breaking into the Bollywood actor's home with the intent to steal and stabbing him multiple times.

The police sought further custody of Fakir🐠, citing that while substantial progress has been made in the probe, the accused has to be interrogated further on crucial aspects of the case. The police, represented by the public prosecutors K S Patil and Prasad Joshi, argued that the accused's facial recognition needs to be done to ascertain that he was the person seen in the CCTV footage recovered from the actor's building.

ꦓThis comes after claims made by the accused man's father that the person seen in the CCTV footage was not his son. The father had alleged his son was arrested based on some similarities and was implicated in the case. Judicial magistrate K C Rajput extended Fakir's remand till January 29, noting that further custody of the accused was necessary considering the nature of the offence and the progress done in the probe.

The police told the court that it also needs to match Fakir's footprints to the ones found Khan's residence and that the shoes Fakir wore at the time of the attack have not been recovered yet. They also stated that the missing part of the knife used in the crime 𝄹was yet to be recovered, and the accused was not cooperating with the investigation.

🀅The court was informed that the accused's Bangladeshi driving licence has been recovered, which confirms that he hails from the neighbouring country. The prosecution submitted that they needed to find the person who helped Fakir make fake Aadhaar and PAN cards for staying in India in the name of Vijay Das.

𝓡Fakir's counsels, Dinesh Prajapati and Sandeep Sherkahne, opposed the police's plea and raised doubt over the credibility of the incident. They argued that the alleged victim (Khan) had enough time but did not call the police for help.

💝They said the remand of the accused was not required to recover the material, as mentioned by the police. Hence, he should be remanded to judicial custody. The 54-year-old actor was repeatedly stabbed by a knife-wielding intruder inside his 12th-floor apartment in upscale Bandra in the early hours of January 16.

🐈Khan was admitted to Lilavati Hospital, where he underwent two surgeries following stab injuries, including on his neck and near the spine. He was discharged from the private hospital on January 21.