Saif Ali Khan's Attacker Seen On CCTV In Building Staircase

NDTV has accessed the first photo and footage of the man who is suspected to have entered the house of Saif Ali Khan in Bandra and stabbed him six times, causing injuries to the actor's hand, neck and spine. 

The man was captured on CCTV at 2.33 am on Thursday in the stairwell of the actor's building. In the photo, the man can be seen dressed in a t-shirt and jeans carrying a backpack and what appears to be an orange scarf on his shoulder. The video shows him walking down the stairs and also looking straight at the camera at one point. Follow LIVE UPDATES here

Saif Ali Khan, his wife and actor Kareena Kapoor Khan and their sons live in an apartment - spread over four floors - in a  12-storey building in Bandra West. Mumbai Police sources had earlier told NDTV that the attacker - believed to have planned to rob the Khans' apartment - entered the compound next to the building in which the actors stay and then scaled a wall. 

After gaining access to the Khans' building, he used the stairs in the rear to climb up to the floors housing their apartment and used a fire escape to enter it. 

One of the house helps in Mr Khan's home, Eliyama Phillipes alias Lima, was reportedly the first to spot the man. She screamed, alerting the actor, who confronted the intruder and tried to fight him off. The man stabbed Mr Khan six times, causing injuries to his left hand and neck and leaving a knife lodged in his spine.

When the intruder was asked what he wanted, he allegedly demanded Rs 1 crore. Two house helps were also injured in the attack. 

'Out Of Danger'

Saif Ali Khan was rushed to the Lilavati Hospital by his son, Ibrahim, and doctors said he is stable and out of danger. 

 "Mr Saif Ali Khan was admitted to the hospital around 2 am with alleged history of assault by some unknown person. He sustained severe injuries to the thoracic spinal cord due to a lodged knife in the spine. Emergency surgery was performed to remove the knife and repair leaking spinal fluid. Two other deep wounds on his left hand and one other on his neck were repaired by the plastic surgery team," Nitin Dange of Lilavati Hospital said.

"I am happy to confirm that Mr. Saif Ali Khan is completely stable now. He is recovering well and out of danger," he added.

The police have registered a case in connection with the attack under sections of robbery, trespassing, and "grievous hurt caused while committing lurking house-trespass".

The Mumbai Police had formed 15 teams to trace the suspect but constituted five more as the day went on, taking the total to 20. The Crime Branch is also probing the case.

'Not Unsafe'

With the Maharashtra government under fire from opposition leaders and some in the film fraternity after the attack, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis - who also holds the Home portfolio - said what happened was unfortunate, but it would not be correct to say that Mumbai is unsafe. 

 "Among all the megacities in the country, Mumbai is the safest. It is true that some incidents take place sometimes and they should be treated with seriousness but to say, based on one incident, that Mumbai is unsafe would not be correct. This tarnishes Mumbai's image. But the government is working to make Mumbai even safer," he asserted.

Hitting out at the state government after the attack, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader and Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi asked, "If celebrities are not safe, who in Mumbai is?"

She also brought up the murder of former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique in October last year and the firing outside actor Salman Khan's home in April. Both of these incidents had also taken place in Bandra, which is one of Mumbai's poshest areas and is home to many of the city's rich and famous, including other actors like Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan, and Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt.

Several other leaders from the opposition in Maharashtra, including Aaditya Thackeray and the Congress' Varsha Gaikwad, also criticised the law and order situation in the state and in Mumbai, and so did Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.