State Congress chief questions Shariful’s arrest, cops rubbish it

Mumbai: State Congress president Nana Patole on Thursday urged the Mumbai police to clarify the identity of the person who allegedly broke into actor Saif Ali Khan's home and stabbed him multiple times. Patole said that while the police have identified the suspect as Shariful Fakir, some media reports suggest he may not be the individual who attacked the actor.
"Police must come out clean on whether the person arrested… and the one on CCTV footage are the same," Patole said. A senior IPS officer told TOI Patole's allegations are baseless. "As far as the accused's identity is concerned, it is a watertight case. We have verified his identity, and the name was released only after thorough verification," the IPS officer said categorically. "Fingerprints matched too, it emerged on Thursday evening," said another officer.
When the IPS officer's attention was drawn to the statement made by Shariful's father, he said denial of his son's involvement in crime stemmed from "a father's natural inclination to protect his son". "(Shariful) has confessed to the investigating officer, detailing how he carried out the attack. In fact, when the entire scene was recreated near Saif's house, the sequence of events clearly confirmed that he was the perpetrator," the officer said.
Patole said the Sai Ali Khan attack case is "not a Hindu-Muslim issue, but a law and order problem", but there is an attempt by the ruling BJP to give it religious colour. "The issue of security in Mumbai has come to fore after the attack. Mumbai police declared that the attacker has been arrested, while a newspaper claimed that there is no resemblance between the attacker seen on CCTV footage and the arrested person," Patole said, adding that following the attack on Saif, it appears that film personalities are not safe in Mumbai, sarpanchs are not safe in villages, and the common man is not safe in the entire state.
"The attack on Saif has created an atmosphere of fear in Bollywood. CM Devendra Fadnavis must take the attack seriously and initiate stringent steps for restoring the confidence of the film industry," Patole said. "While it has been confirmed that the attacker is a Bangladeshi national, now it has been found that several Bangladeshi women have taken advantage of the Ladki Bahin scheme."
Mumbai: State Congress president Nana Patole on Thursday urged the Mumbai police to clarify the identity of the person who allegedly broke into actor Saif Ali Khan's home and stabbed him multiple times. Patole said that while the police have identified the suspect as Shariful Fakir, some media reports suggest he may not be the individual who attacked the actor.
"Police must come out clean on whether the person arrested… and the one on CCTV footage are the same," Patole said. A senior IPS officer told TOI Patole's allegations are baseless. "As far as the accused's identity is concerned, it is a watertight case. We have verified his identity, and the name was released only after thorough verification," the IPS officer said categorically.
When the officer's attention was drawn to the statement made by Shariful's father, he said denial of his son's involvement in crime stemmed from "a father's natural inclination to protect his son". "(Shariful) has confessed to the investigating officer, detailing how he carried out the attack. In fact, when the entire scene was recreated near Saif's house, the sequence of events clearly confirmed that he was the perpetrator," the officer said.
Patole said the Sai Ali Khan attack case is "not a Hindu-Muslim issue, but a law and order problem", but there is an attempt by the ruling BJP to give it religious colour. "The issue of security in Mumbai has come to fore after the attack. Mumbai police declared that the attacker has been arrested, while a newspaper claimed that there is no resemblance between the attacker seen on CCTV footage and the arrested person," Patole said, adding that following the attack on Saif, it appears that film personalities are not safe in Mumbai, sarpanchs are not safe in villages, and the common man is not safe in the entire state.
"The attack on Saif has created an atmosphere of fear in Bollywood. CM Devendra Fadnavis must take the attack seriously and initiate stringent steps for restoring the confidence of the film industry," Patole said. "While it has been confirmed that the attacker is a Bangladeshi national, now it has been found that several Bangladeshi women have taken advantage of the Ladki Bahin scheme."