Police said a man believed to be a Bangladeshi national was arrested in India's financial capital Mumbai on Sunday and is believed to be the prime suspect in the stabbing death of Bollywood star Saif Ali Khan.
Thursday's attack on Khan, one of India's highest-grossing stars, shocked the country's film industry and residents of Mumbai, with many calling for improved policing and security. According to doctors, his life is not in danger.
“The primary evidence suggests that the accused is a Bangladeshi national and he changed his name after illegally entering India,” Dixit Gedam, deputy commissioner of police, said at a press conference.
The suspect, arrested on the outskirts of Mumbai, used the name Vijay Das, but is believed to be Mohammad Shariful Islam Shehzad and was working in a cleaning agency after arriving in the city five or six months ago, Gedam said.
He added that the police would ask the suspect to be remanded in custody for further investigation.
A star stabbed in his own home
Khan, 54, was stabbed six times by an intruder while trying to break into his home. He entered the hospital in blood-soaked clothes accompanied by his six-year-old son Taimur and later underwent surgery for wounds to his back, neck and hands, doctors said.
On Friday, doctors said that after the surgery, Khan's condition was stable and he was out of any danger.
“If the knife had penetrated deeper, there would have been a spinal injury,” Niraj Uttamnani, one of the doctors treating Khan, told reporters last week, adding that the actor escaped by just two millimeters.
Police in Mumbai detained the first key suspect in the attack on Friday, while police in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh detained a second person on Saturday.
Khan is the son of former Indian cricket captain Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi and actress Sharmila Tagore and is one half of one of Bollywood's most powerful couples. He and his wife, Kareena Kapoor Khan, have starred in over 60 films, including several that they worked on together.
IN Instagram post Last week, Kapoor Khan called on the media and paparazzi to “refrain from relentless speculation and coverage,” stating that the constant attention was overwhelming and posed a “significant risk to our safety.”