A suspect has been taken into custody following a large-scale manhunt a day after actor Saif Ali Khan was stabbed at his residence in Mumbai.
Mumbai police have said that they detained a carpenter, who had worked at Saif Ali Khan's flat two days before the stabbing incident, an official said on Friday.
The man identified as Waris Ali Salmani was taken to the Bandra police station for questioning as he resembled the intruder.
Salmani had worked at the actor's flat two days before the incident and was informed about the attack by the contractor who had hired him for the carpentry assignment, the official said.
It was not confirmed that he was the same man who had broken into the actor's home yesterday and attacked him.
The man who attacked Khan was reportedly spotted near Bandra railway station after the stabbing incident, according to sources.
Police believe he changed clothes to avoid detection while fleeing. To track him down, 20 police teams were formed, leveraging technical data and informers to aid the search.
Officers also conducted searches in Vasai and Nalasopara to locate the attacker. The intruder had entered Satguru Sharan, a 12-storey building in Bandra where the actor’s four-floor residence is located, allegedly with the intent to commit burglary.
Investigators suspect the intruder may have been acquainted with a member of the household staff, granting him access to the residence without being recorded on the lobby's CCTV cameras.
Sources say that he was familiar with the building’s layout and reached the upper floors using the fire shaft, after scaling the wall of a neighbouring compound.
CCTV footage captured the intruder on the sixth floor while he was attempting to flee. Investigators suspect he used the fire shaft to escape, which allowed him to leave the premises without being caught.
Meanwhile, doctors at the Mumbai hospital where Saif Ali Khan is being treated said that the actor is doing "very well" and expected to be discharged in two to three days.
"We are observing his progress and he is doing excellently well according to our expectations. As per his progress, we have advised him bed rest and if he is comfortable, then in two to three days we will discharge him," said Dr Nitin Dange, neurosurgeon at Lilavati Hospital.
He said a team of doctors checked on him and made him walk.
