Why can’t police nab Saif attacker ?
With reports that the absconding attacker is frequently changing clothes and locations, the mystery about the murderous attack on actor Saif Ali Khan is deepening.
Many questions still beg answers. Who was the attacker? How did he enter the actor’s house bypassing security? What was the motive behind the attack? What exactly happened at the apartment on that fateful night?
It is now clear that the stabbings were ferocious. It was Saif’s fortune that the knife missed the actor’s spinal chord and the cranial nerve and artery on the neck.
Dr Nitin Dange of Lilavati Hospital said, the tip of the knife had reached the outer layer of spine, and had it entered even 2 millimetre deep, the actor would have faced paralysis. The stab on the neck was close to the main artery that supplies blood to the brain. Had the knife hit the artery, Saif’s life would have been in danger.
Dr Nitin Dange said, Saif suffered four crtical wounds, two on his arm and one each on his back and neck. He is now recovering fast.
While doctors are clear about Saif evading death by millimetres, Mumbai Police appears to be confused. Till Thursday, Mumbai Police DCP was claiming that the attacker has been identified and would be nabbed within five hours. Police had also claimed that he was a history sheeter, and since the police had CCTV footage about the attacker, he would be nabbed soon. Yet, the police is yet to correctly identify the attacker by name till now.
Teams from 21 police stations of Mumbai and 12 teams from Crime Branch are working on leads to nab the attacker. The delay in nabbing the culprit is denting the image of Mumbai Police.
Whenever loopholes appear in the probe during any high profile case, people start doubting whether police is trying to hide something. This has led to a spate of unnecessary speculations on social media. Unless Mumbai Police nabs the culprit seen walking up and down the stairs near Saif’s apartment in the CCTV footage, speculations will continue.
Saif attacker mystery : How he got in and how he escaped?
In a shocking incident at a penthouse atop a residential complex in Bandra, Mumbai, an intruder knifed actor Saif Ali Khan six times and then fled taking the staircase route. This incident has sent shockwaves across the Mumbai film industry and raised questions about whether our celebrities are really safe in Maximum City.
Saif Ali Khan underwent surgery in Lilavati Hospital, where surgeons removed the 3-inch top of the knife, close to the vertebrae in the mid-spine region, and doctors said, had the knife tip lodged a millimetre or so deeper, the wound could have been a major problem.
Saif, 54, is presently out of danger and has been shifted from ICU to his room on Friday. Meanwhile, Mumbai Police has caught a suspect from Bandra railway station, on the basis of cctv footage that showed the attacker going up and down the staircase.
Several questions arise. How did the intruder gain entry into the closely guarded complex?
The complex had four layers of security. At the main gate, security guards are deployed, but police says, the intruder scaled a wall. The second layer of security is near the lobby lift, which can open only on the basis of thumb impressions of residents. Police say, the intruder went to the 11th floor using the staircase.
The third layer of security is the glass door on each floor after the lift doors open. This glass door can open only on the basis of thumb impression or face recognition or by card.
For entry into the apartment, a camera and voice message system was placed at the main door, and the gate can be opened only by using a password lock.
There is no clear reply to the question: How did the intruder enter the apartment? Unless the questions are answered, the motive and intent of the intruder cannot be established. It was in Bandra locality that bullets were fired outside Salman Khan’s apartment, and in the same locality, NCP leader Baba Siddiqui was shot dead by an assassin.
Naturally, concerns arise, but it has also blowed up into a political issue. Shiv Sena (UBT), NCP(Sharad), AIMIM, TMC and Congress raised questions on law and order. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said, Saif’s family was linked by marriage to Rabindranath Tagore’s clan after Nawab Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi married actor Sharmila Tagore. She demanded early arrest of the attacker. Former Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal made it an issue of national security. He said, the ‘double engine sarkaar’ of BJP in Maharashtra has failed and law and order has deteriorated both in Delhi and Mumbai.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said, Mumbai is the safest city in India and its police should not be defamed on the basis of one or two incidents. Fadnavis said, Mumbai Police would soon arrest the culprit.
It’s true that the murderous attack on a film star inside his residence was the result of a grave security lapse and the government is answerable, but one must understand our brand of politics.
Kejriwal is fighting Delhi assembly elections and he promptly latched Delhi with Mumbai on law and order issue. Mamata Banerjee found out Rabindranath Tagore family connections with the Pataudi family. AIMIM leader Waris Pathan linked the incident to the Prime Minister’s Sunday trip to Mumbai and Sanjay Raut linked this incident with the split in Shiv Sena.
Nobody takes the remarks of these leaders seriously. But Fadnavis will have to reply. If security lapse happens not once, but thrice, in a locality like Bandra, where top film stars reside, then questions will definitely arise. Let us hope the truth will soon come out.