Mumbai: In her testimony which is part of the police chargesheet into the Jan 16 assault on Saif Ali Khan, Saif’s wife and actor Kareena Kapoor Khan has spoken of how their nine-year-old son Taimur was particularly affected by his father’s condition after the attack and insisted on going to the hospital.
Kareena’s testimony is one among 111 witness statements included in the chargesheet which outlines events that early morning at the triplex where the actor’s family occupies three bedrooms on the 11th floor, with the kitchen and living areas on the 12th and library and service facilities on the 13th.
According to Kareena’s account, she returned home at 1:20 am after a meeting, and finding her family asleep, checked on her children before retiring for the night.
Kareena stated, “At 2 am I and my husband heard (one of the caretakers) Junu screaming, “Jeh baba ke room mein ek aadmi haath mein chaku leke aaya hai, aur woh paise maang raha hai (A man with a knife has entered Jeh’s room and he’s asking for money)”… She was scared. We both headed to Jeh’s bedroom and fo und (another caretaker) Geeta outside Jeh’s bedroom, scared. Saif went ahead of Geeta and peeped inside the bedroom and noticed a person in dark-coloured shirt standing on the left side of the bed holding a knife and a hacksaw blade in the other hand. He was close to Jeh.”
Her statement further mentions that “Saif, while retaliating, was searching for something to get hold of when domestic help Hari, Ramu, Ramesh and Paswan rushed for help.”
After the assault was over, Kareena has stated, “I said Saif needs medical assistance. ‘Yeh sab chod do pehle neeche chalo, hospital jaate hain,’ I told everyone. We rushed downstairs to save our lives. I noticed blood rushing from Saif’s body and asked Hari to call a rickshaw. Hari and (house help Sister Eliyamma) Phillip went out of the building and got a rickshaw.”
When Saif and Hari were leaving for hospital, Taimur insisted he wanted to go with them, she stated.
Saif has said in his statement that the attacker repeatedly stabbed him with the knife “after I grabbed him. He fell when I pushed him with force. I and Geeta were trying to save our lives. We rushed out of the bedroom and locked it from outside.”
Charge sheet cites Kareena Kapoor’s first words upon seeing a blood-soaked Saif Ali Khan in the middle of burglary at their home
Shirish Vaktania, Diwakar Sharma (MID-DAY; Arpil 12, 2025)
“Ye sab chhod do, pehle neeche chalo. Hospital chalte hain.” Actor Kareena Kapoor’s uttered these words—according to her statement to the police—shortly after seeing her husband Saif Ali Khan bleeding after being stabbed at the family’s Bandra residence in the early hours of January 16. Kareena claimed she immediately rushed Saif, their two children and all the household staff downstairs using the lift to ensure their safety. She realized that the accused was still inside the house and staying there was not safe for any of them.
In her statement, Kareena said, “I live with Saif Ali Khan and our sons, Taimur and Jehangir (Jeh Baba), at Satguru Sharan building in Bandra West, along with two caregivers, two nurses, and four helpers. The caregivers are Geeta (Lekhi Tamang) and Junu Sapkota. The nurses are Sharmila Shrestha and Eliyama Philip. Our apartment on the 11th floor has three bedrooms; the living area is on the 12th floor and we have a library and servant quarters on the 13th floor.”
The statement further reads, “On January 15 at around 7.30 pm, I met my friend Rhea Kapoor. I returned home around 1.20 am. I checked on Taimur and Jeh Baba in their bedrooms and found them asleep. Around 2 am, Junu rushed into my bedroom, where I was with Saif, and told us that someone was inside Jeh Baba’s room, holding a knife and demanding money. (‘Jeh Baba ke room mein ek aadmi haath mein chaku leke aaya hai, aur paisa maang raha hai.’).”
Saif and I rushed to Jeh Baba’s room and found Geeta standing outside the door. Inside, I saw a man dressed in dark clothes and a cap, approximately 5 feet 5 inches tall and seemingly between 30 to 35 years old, holding a knife and a hexablade.
“I saw nurse Eliyama Philip injured and bleeding from her hand. When Saif attempted to restrain the intruder from behind, the attacker stabbed him in the hand, neck and back. Geeta also approached, and he attacked her as well. I shouted to Eliyama to rescue Jeh Baba and take him out of the room. Together, we rushed to the 12th floor with Jeh Baba. Saif also followed us there, severely injured and bleeding.”
According to the statement, Saif had injuries on his neck, back and hand. “I called our helpers Hari, Ramu, Ramesh and Paswan for help. We searched the house for the attacker but couldn’t find him. I decided to evacuate everyone because the house was no longer safe. I told the staff, ‘Ye sab chhod do, pehle neeche chalo. Hospital chalte hain,’ since Saif needed urgent medical attention. We all took the lift downstairs, and I asked Hari to take Saif to the hospital. Taimur also insisted on accompanying his father, and I allowed him to go to Lilavati Hospital with Saif and Hari,” the statement read.
Kareena later informed her sister Karisma Kapoor, her manager Poonam Damania, and Poonam’s husband, Tejas Damania, for assistance. Shortly afterwards, the police arrived at the building. They searched the premises but found no sign of the intruder. Kareena later reached the hospital and ensured Eliyama was also admitted.
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Employer of Saif Ali Khan’s alleged assailant reveals in statement how accused came to work for him and how his cover was blown
Shirish Vaktania, Diwakar Sharma (MID-DAY; Arpil 12, 2025)
A digital payment of Rs 6 at an Andheri West photocopying centre by the employer of Bangladeshi national Shariful Islam Shehzad, who stabbed actor Saif Ali Khan at his Bandra flat on January 16, helped Mumbai police trace his hideout in Thane’s Hiranandani Estate, revealed the charge sheet filed in Bandra court.
The Mumbai Police, who had been desperately hunting for the masked man, got a hint after the intruder’s CCTV grab at Satguru Sharan building matched with the facial recognition system (FRS) at Andheri railway station. The investigators then came across footage from Andheri West of January 9, in which he was seen riding pillion with a person.
The cops retrieved the details of the motorcyclist and the biker was identified as Amit Pandey, who had hired Shehzad as a member of his housekeeping staff. The investigating team then showed a CCTV grab of the attacker to Pandey who identified him as Vijay Das.
After retrieving the mobile number of the attacker, the police traced Das to Hiranandani where he was hiding behind a barracks. Though the charge sheet revealed that Shehzad had entered Saif’s Bandra flat to demand Rs 1 crore, there is no detailed description of how he entered the apartment on January 16. The attacker was captured in the CCTV footage in which he was seen ascending the building’s stairs at 1.37 am and then descending at 2.37 am.
According to the charge sheet, the accused was seen coming out of the compound of the Bharti Villa building in CCTV footage at 3.37 am on January 16. But none got a whiff of his whereabouts. A large team of Bandra police reached the crime spot and inspected the area that was cordoned off for gathering pieces of crucial evidence scattered on the floor at the flat.
“The crime scene was examined with the help of a forensic mobile van, fingerprint experts and a dog team. In terms of evidence, 29 specimens such as a piece of knife blade, blood samples lying on the spot, blood stained pillow cover, blood stained mattress cover, blood stained load cover, blood stained cotton pad, blood stained tissue paper, plain sample of cotton cloth have been recovered from the scene (sic),” revealed the charge sheet.
Pandey’s statement
Pandey told Bandra police that he works as a supervisor in Shree Om Facility Services, a housekeeping manpower agency. He met Shehzad in November 2024. “The said agency also works to place the people coming to work in hotels at various places as per their requirement. In July 2024 one person came to me asking for housekeeping work in the acquaintance Name Vishal (full name not known) working in our agency. He told his name as Vijay Das (sic). At that time, I asked him for his Aadhaar card and other documents and he said that he would give them later. After about two days, I hired him as a housekeeper in a pub located at Worli Koliwada, where he provided accommodation with other men working in our agency. Vijay worked at the pub for four months,” Pandey said.
“Vijay worked at Bandra till January 13. After that, I got information that he did not come to work for two to three days. At that time, I tried to call him repeatedly. But Vijay’s phone was going off. Then on January 16 around 11 am I got a call from an unknown mobile number. He told me that Vijay Das was talking, about why I didn’t come to work for two days. When asked about this, he told me that while coming to work, he had a fight with a person on the train at Mahim,” Pandey added.
“Vijay told me that because the person was a policeman, he took him to the police station and locked him up. On the same day around 7.30 pm Vijay called me from the phone of a person called Rohit Yadav, who lives in our agency, Worli Koliwada, and said that he did not need money for food and drink. He asked me to send Rs 1000. I transferred the money. At the time, I instructed Rohit to go to work regularly. But I learnt that Vijay did not go to work that day also. When I inquired about Vijay from the other guys at work, I was informed that he was not even in the room.”
“On the night of January 18, while I was watching TV at home, I saw the news about the attack on actor Saif Ali Khan. After seeing the face of the suspect and the shirt he was wearing, I realized that he was Vijay. I tried to contact him repeatedly but when I could not get through to him, I decided to report the matter to the police. But the next day I learnt from the TV that he was caught by the police,” he added.
“When the police called me and questioned me, I learned his real name is Mohammad Shariful Sajjad Rohool Amin Fakir and he is a citizen of Bangladesh,” Pandey stated.