One major lead that helped the Mumbai Police apprehend Mohammad Shariful Islam Shehzad, a accused Bengali national who allegedly assaulted Bollywood celebrity Saif Ali Khan at his Bandra house on January 16, was a phone payment he made.
Arrested from Thane city on Sunday, Shehzad—exchanged his name to Bijoy Das May 19—illegally entered India. Shehzad’s breakthrough was a UPI purchase via Google Pay for a parata and water from a stall near Century Mill in Worli. Finally, this payment via his mobile number brought police to his location in Thane, where they conducted a search in a thick mangrove area close a labor camp.
Officers were about to go from the site when one of their lamps uncovered a prone shape after a thorough search. The person rose and ran as the officer came, but he was soon captured and calmed.
Police sources say Shehzad was still in Bandra until 7 a. m. on the day of the event before running away. Intent on robbing, he got scared when his photographs showed upon the news in Satguru Sharan building in the actor’s residence. Shehzad, who had been employed in Thane at a pub, headed to the area to avoid apprehension.
By analyzing security footage at Bandra railway terminal and a store close Dadar where he made a cash transaction, the police had earlier found Shehzad. They came upon a Worli stall where Shehzad talked several times with the proprietor, Naveen Ekka, thanks to surveillance.
Further inspection revealed Ekka’s home and connected it with Shehzad’s phone payment, therefore exposing his real name. Finding and detaining Shehzad turned on the discovery.
The inquiry show Shehzad slept at a Bandra bus stop before getting on a train for Worli after the assault. Scaling the building Saif Ali Khan lived in, he had broken into his apartment via a bathroom window and then argued with a nanny. Upon hearing the commotion, Shehzad stabbed Saif Ali Khan in the back, demanding ₹1 crore from the nanny. Saif Ali Khan then confronted him, powé.
Saif Ali Khan thought Shehzad was stuck after he locked himself in a room, but the attacker got away via the same path he had entered. Suggesting possible criminal intent, the police returned a hammer, screwdriver, nylon rope, and several other items taken from Shehzad’s rucksack. Shehzad apparently only noticed he had assaulted a star once he viewed media reports of the event.
