Meet Daya Nayak: Mumbai Encounter Specialist Visits Saif Ali Khan’s Bandra Home After Attack

Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan, 54, was attacked at his Mumbai residence early Thursday, sustaining multiple stab wounds. He underwent surgery at Lilavati Hospital, where his team confirmed he is now out of danger. Thankfully, his wife Kareena Kapoor Khan and their children were unharmed during the attack.

Mumbai Police, including encounter specialist Daya Nayak, visited the apartment complex in Bandra West where Khan lives, in response to the incident.

Who is Daya Nayak?

Daya Nayak is considered to have cleared over 80 notorious gangsters of Mumbai’s underworld during the 1990s. His ascendancy in the police force happened after he came to Mumbai in 1979 from his home town Udupi, Karnataka. Nayak, who used to work in a hotel as an employee, completed his education while working in multiple jobs and eventually joined the police force as a sub-inspector in 1995.

Nayak’s popularity grew after an encounter in 1996, where he killed two gangsters from the Chhota Rajan gang in Mumbai’s Juhu. However, his career has not been free from controversies. In 2004, he faced scrutiny for accumulating wealth far beyond his official earnings. A Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court directed the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) to investigate his assets. This resulted in raids that discovered luxury buses in his name. Despite his arrest, Nayak was reinstated as an additional commissioner of police in 2012.