Shariful Islam, the man accused of stabbing Saif Ali Khan earlier this year, has told investigators how he entered the actor’s residence, why he needed the money, and why he did not recognise the star.
Shariful’s version is in the chargesheet filed by the police. The Free Press Journal has a copy of it.
According to the chargesheet, the accused’s full name is Mohammad Shariful Islam Sjjad Mohammad Ruhul Amin Fakir, alias Vijay Das. He is 30 years old, unmarried, and studied until the second standard.
In his statement, recorded on January 28, Shariful told the investigating officer: “I am a Bangladeshi citizen. I arrived in Mumbai eight-and-a-half months ago. I stayed in Kolkata for 15 days then came to Mumbai on Gitanjali Express.”
Shariful said that in Mumbai he met a man named Amit Pandey. “He offered me a hotel job and arranged a room for me in Dadar,” he said.
“Pandey sir asked for Rs30,000 to help me get Aadhaar and PAN cards. I did not have that much money, so I chose to steal. I thought once I got the documents, I would return to Bangladesh.
On the morning of January 15, Shariful decided to commit robbery, he told the investigators.
“I went to Bandra railway station, took an auto, and reached a park where I rested. Around 9pm, I jumped over a building wall. I tried to enter the building through the staircase, but the door was locked. So I climbed a pipe and reached the first floor. I then took the staircase and tried to open the door on each floor, but all were locked. After the ninth floor, I noticed a CCTV camera, so I opened a steel door that led outside the building. I climbed further using a pipe and found a net, which I cut. I then stood on an A/C unit and entered through a bathroom window after removing the window pane. Inside, I saw a woman and child sleeping, while another woman was using her mobile,” he said.
He continued, “The woman asked me how I had entered. I demanded Rs1 crore. I thought one crore meant one lakh in Bangladesh. While I was speaking to the woman, a man wearing a Punjabi attire came in and grabbed me. As I tried to escape, I stabbed him two or three times in the back. Then he pushed me and locked me inside, while everyone else left. I escaped using the same route.”
Shariful told the officer that Pandey later called him and said he was in the news, and advised him to flee to his village. “When I watched the news on YouTube, I realised that I had entered the residence of Saif Ali Khan. I had not recognised him because he was clean-shaven, the lights were dim, and it was dark. I had watched his film Sikandar, in which Jacqueline Fernandez acted... I switched off my phone and went to Thane the next morning.”
