‘Realised attacker was ‘Vijay’ after seeing news reports on Saif attack'

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 Thanersquos Hiranandani Estate revealed the charge sheet filed in Bandra courtThe Mumbai Police who had been desperately hunting for the masked man got a hint after the intruderrsquos 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 personThe 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 DasAfter 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 Saifrsquos 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 buildingrsquos stairs at 137 am and then descending at 237 amAccording to the charge sheet the accused was seen coming out of the compound of the Bharti Villa building in CCTV footage at 337 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 flatldquoThe 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 sicrdquo revealed the charge sheetPandeyrsquos statementPandey told Bandra police that he works as a supervisor in Shree Om Facility Services a housekeeping manpower agency He met Shehzad in November 2024 ldquoThe 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 monthsrdquo Pandey saidldquoVijay 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 Vijays 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 didnt 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 Mahimrdquo Pandey addedldquoVijay 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 730 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 roomrdquoldquoOn 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 realised 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 policerdquo he added ldquoWhen 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 Bangladeshrdquo Pandey statedatOptionskeyd0ddb8ef8f1a62a8cdd22fac27fc5ea7formatiframeheight90width728params