Mumbai, Jan 20: Mohammad Shariful Islam Shehzad, the 30-year-old Bangladeshi national arrested for allegedly stabbing actor Saif Ali Khan during a failed robbery attempt, told police that he was a wrestler in Bangladesh before coming to India, sources said.

Shehzad revealed during interrogation that he used to compete in the lower weight category at district-level and national-level wrestling championships in Bangladesh.

His wrestling background, he claimed, enabled him to attack Saif Ali Khan without sustaining any injuries himself, police sources added.

After committing the crime, Shehzad reportedly changed his clothes three to four times to evade detection. He moved across multiple locations, travelling from Bandra to Dadar, Worli, Andheri, and finally to Thane.

On the day after the incident, he returned to Dadar, continuously roaming around, making it difficult for the police to track him down.

Shehzad arrived in Mumbai in September and initially worked at a hotel through a housekeeping company. The contract of the company was also raided as part of the investigation.

Meanwhile, police have transferred Shehzad from Santacruz Police Station to Bandra Police Station for further questioning and investigation. They revealed that Shehzad had scoped out several Bollywood celebrities’ residences before targeting Saif Ali Khan’s house.

He admitted to surveying Saif Ali Khan’s 12-storey building, Satguru Sharan, and Shah Rukh Khan’s Mannat, among other high-profile residences.

Using a ladder to inspect entry points, Shehzad abandoned plans to target Mannat due to its tight security and high walls.

On January 15, Shehzad conducted a detailed recce of Saif Ali Khan’s house and identified an easy entry point. He returned later that night and entered the building at 1:37 a.m. on January 16.

However, his robbery attempt failed, and in a panic, he attacked Saif Ali Khan before fleeing without stealing anything.

Desperate to return to Bangladesh after being unemployed for a month, Shehzad sought financial help but was unable to secure funds. Inspired by an auto driver’s comments about celebrity homes in Bandra, he decided to rob a high-profile residence to finance his return.

Despite a clear opportunity to steal cash and jewellery, Shehzad fled in fear of being caught. He then closely monitored the investigation through news channels, saving screenshots of suspects shown by the media, which were later recovered from his mobile phone.

Mumbai Police initially detained two suspects who resembled Shehzad but continued their hunt. He was eventually arrested on Sunday morning near Hiranandani Estate in Kasarvadavali, Thane, about 35 kilometres from Saif Ali Khan’s residence.

He had been hiding in a labour camp in a forested area and attempted to evade arrest by hiding in bushes but was captured after a seven-hour search operation.

According to DCP Dixit Gedam, Shehzad lacked Indian identification documents, and evidence confirmed his Bangladeshi nationality. Investigators also found that he had been living in Mumbai for four months under the alias Bijoy Das.

Upon his arrest, Shehzad confessed to the crime, saying, “Haan, maine hi kiya hai” (Yes, I did it). He has been remanded to police custody for five days, during which investigators plan to recreate the crime scene at Saif Ali Khan’s residence.

The incident has raised concerns about the security of high-profile residences in Mumbai. Police continue their probe to uncover more details about Shehzad’s activities and background.

Kolkata, Jan 20: A few hours before the Special Court in Kolkata pronounces the quantum of sentence on Monday for civic volunteer Sanjay Roy, the sole convict in the rape and murder of a woman doctor of state-run R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital, the father of the victim demanded maximum punishment for the sole convict.

“Before pronouncing the sentence today the judge of the special court will hear what the convict has to say. He insisted on saying something on January 20, the day he was convicted by the special court. The judge agreed to give him a hearing today. I do not know what Roy has to say now or what impact it will have now. But as for us, we want maximum punishment to be given to him,” the victim’s father told newspersons in the morning.

He also accused the state administration of guarding the main brains behind the tragedy besides Roy.

“Roy is undoubtedly the culprit. But more are involved in the conspiracy. The administration had been trying to defend them since the beginning,” he said.

The victim’s mother, who was accompanying him, said that probably Roy remained silent for such a long period, since he was assured by anyone of getting him bailed out in the matter.

The judge, on January 18, had already made it clear that the maximum punishment in the case could be the “death penalty”, while the minimum punishment in the matter could be life imprisonment.

The proceedings of the special court will start on Monday at around noon and in the beginning, the judge will allow Roy as well as the victims of the parents to present their concluding statements on the matter. Thereafter the special court judge will pronounce the sentence in the case.

Although the process of sentence against Roy in the case of the crime of rape and murder will be completed on Monday, the angle of investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) as regards “tampering” and “altering” of evidence in the matter will be still alive.

Mumbai, Jan 20: The Bangladeshi national, Mohammad Shariful Islam Shehzad, arrested on charges of stabbing actor Saif Ali Khan after breaking into his house, was keeping a very close watch on the police investigation through news and had kept screenshots of the suspects, being shown by the media, in his mobile phone.

The Mumbai Police said the photographs of the suspects were seized from the mobile phone of Shehzad. The suspects were those men who were interrogated by the police while on the lookout for the main culprit.

The media was continuously giving updates on the case and showing the photographs of suspects being picked up by the police.

Shehzad had saved the photographs of the two suspects on his mobile phone. Screenshots of the suspects being shown on news channels were found in the phone’s memory.

The Mumbai Police had picked up two suspects earlier and had questioned them. Both these had a resemblance to the main accused.

The accused was keeping a very close watch on the activities of the police and was getting information about the activities of the police through the news, said officials.

Meanwhile, sources in the Mumbai Police said they will likely recreate the crime scene at the Bandra home of Saif Ali Khan, where the crime incident took place.

The accused, Shehzad, a 30-year-old Bangladeshi man, was arrested on Sunday morning from Thane city.

A court remanded the accused in police custody for five days. According to the official, police will likely take Shehzad to Khan’s home in the ‘Satguru Sharan’ building during these five days to recreate the crime scene as part of the investigation.

The accused has reportedly confessed to the crime, saying “haan, maine hi kiya hai (yes, I did it)”.

According to police sources, Shehzad was arrested near Hiranandani Estate in Kasarvadavali in Thane, about 35 km from Khan’s house in Mumbai’s Bandra area on Sunday. The breakthrough came after over 70 hours of an intense manhunt that was launched following the attack during a failed burglary bid in the early hours of Thursday.

The police traced Shehzad to a labour camp in a forested area in Thane. As soon as Shehzad got a whiff that policemen were looking for him in Thane, the accused hid himself in the bushes, a source said. “He was arrested after a search operation that lasted for seven hours in the city,” the source added.

On Sunday, DCP Dixit Gedam told the media that Shehzad is a Bangladeshi national. “He does not have any Indian documents. Some things found in his possession show that he is a Bangladeshi national,” Gedam said. Police also said the accused had been living in Mumbai for the past four months and had changed his name to Bijoy Das.