Mumbai Police Question West Bengal Woman Over SIM Card Linked to Saif Ali Khan’s Attacker

Mumbai/Kolkata, 28th January 2025: An investigation into the stabbing of actor Saif Ali Khan has led Mumbai Police to question a woman from West Bengal for allegedly providing a SIM card to Sariful Islam, a Bangladeshi national accused of the attack. Islam reportedly entered India illegally and has since been arrested.

According to police sources, the woman, identified as Khukumoni Sheikh from Chapra in Nadia district, was allegedly acquainted with Islam. The SIM card used by Islam during his stay in India was traced back to her. However, Sheikh claimed her phone was stolen earlier.

Police revealed that Islam crossed the Dawki River along the India-Bangladesh border in Meghalaya seven months ago to enter India illegally. He stayed in West Bengal for a few weeks, where he reportedly used a resident’s Aadhaar card to obtain a SIM card, before relocating to Mumbai in search of work. He is said to have adopted the alias “Bijoy Das” to avoid detection and took up jobs that didn’t require documentation.

Islam, 30, has been identified as a Bangladeshi citizen through two identity documents: a National Identity Card listing his birthplace as March 3, 1994, and a learner’s driving licence indicating he was from Barisal, Bangladesh.

On January 16th, Saif Ali Khan sustained six stab wounds during an alleged burglary attempt at his Bandra residence in the “Satguru Sharan” building. After a 70-hour manhunt, multiple police teams and crime branch officers arrested Islam on January 19th near Hiranandani Estate in Thane, roughly 35 kilometres from Khan’s residence. He was subsequently remanded into police custody.

Khan’s wife, actress Kareena Kapoor Khan, recounted witnessing the attack and said the intruder aggressively stabbed her husband multiple times. A nurse caring for their younger son, Eliyama Philips, stated that the attacker had demanded ₹1 crore. Islam reportedly admitted to stabbing Khan in the back to escape after being restrained. He also confessed to hiding in the building’s garden for two hours before fleeing.

Islam’s father, Mohammed Ruhul Islam, denied the allegations, claiming his son is being framed and plans to seek help from the Bangladeshi Foreign Ministry and Indian High Commission in Dhaka.

Doctors who performed emergency surgery on Khan removed a 2.5-inch broken knife fragment lodged in his spine. They noted that a deeper injury could have been critical. The 54-year-old actor was discharged from the hospital on January 21st.