Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan was discharged from the hospital on January 21 after sustaining multiple stab wounds during an alleged burglary attempt at his residence. Khan was rushed to Mumbai’s Lilavati Hospital in the wee hours of the morning on January 16. Later that day, the police released an image of the suspect based on CCTV footage from the actor’s Bandra residence.
Within hours of the alleged attacker’s image being released, social media was rife with speculation. Before the police’s official statement on January 19 regarding an arrest, anyone who was called in for questioning by the police or bearing resemblance to viral image of the CCTV footage was labelled as accused.
On January 17, news agency IANS (@ians_india) posted on X (formerly Twitter) that someone named Waris Ali was detained in connection with Saif Ali Khan’s stabbing case. Sharing a video of Waris Ali’s wife, IANS said that he was detained and under interrogation by the Bandra police for 24 hours.
Mumbai: Police have detained a man named Waris Ali, who has been questioned for the past 24 hours in connection with the actor Saif Ali Khan case. Waris Ali was detained by the Bandra police in Mumbai yesterday and is currently being interrogated
Waris Ali’s wife says, “His… pic.twitter.com/M5AWkNImlh
— IANS (@ians_india) January 17, 2025
Shortly after, X user Mr Sinha (@MrSinha_) shared the IANS video insinuating that discussion regarding Khan’s case would stop since the accused is Muslim.
Big news : Mumbai Police have detained a man named Waris Ali in connection with Saif Ali Khan case. He’s being interrogated by Police…
Now all the moron seculars will start discussing weather.pic.twitter.com/yeCUHYzyQp
— Mr Sinha (@MrSinha_) January 17, 2025
On the same day, news agency ANI also shared a clip where a man in a white shirt, with a similar build as the man appearing in the CCTV footage, is seen at the Bandra police station. The agency’s caption suggests that these were “latest visuals” from the “Saif Ali Khan Attack Case”.
#WATCH | Saif Ali Khan Attack Case | Mumbai Police bring one person to Bandra Police station for questioning.
Latest Visuals pic.twitter.com/us4CYR7BR1
— ANI (@ANI) January 17, 2025
The following day, January 18, IANS shared another clip of a white-shirted man taking shoes from a rack. The person in this appears the same as the man in the ANI video. IANS reported that footage “of a suspect” in the Saif Ali Khan case was found from Versova.
Mumbai, Maharashtra: A CCTV footage of a suspect in the Actor Saif Ali Khan case from January 12 in Versova has been found, but no footage is available from his house pic.twitter.com/aSWSNNO3Sz
— IANS (@ians_india) January 18, 2025
Later on January 18, IANS reported that another suspect, Aakash Kanojia, was arrested in Chhattisgarh by Durg Railway Protection Force and was to be handed over to the Mumbai police. IANS conclusively said “Saif Ali Khan’s attacker, identified as Akash, has been arrested” along with his image and a statement from station in-charge SK Singh in a follow-up post.
Actor Saif Ali Khan’s attacker, identified as Akash, has been arrested by Durg RPF from the Gyaneshwar Express following an alert from Mumbai Police. The accused is currently in RPF custody, awaiting interrogation by Mumbai Police pic.twitter.com/CBlnpZCnZ7
— IANS (@ians_india) January 18, 2025
In a now-deleted post on X, academic Ashok Swain (@ashoswai) implied that the attacker may have had some association with Hindutva groups because the CCTV footage shows him with a saffron scarf.
Meanwhile, others on social media amplified the claims and even suggested that the man in the ANI video was indeed the attacker and his name was Waris Ali.
X accounts @KumaarSaagar, @JaipurDialogues, @KreatelyMedia and @MeghUpdates were some of those that amplified these claims:
Click to view slideshow.Fact Check
As of January 18, the police had made no arrest and most news reports until then neither identify the attacker nor claim that the police nabbed someone in the case. An NDTV report from January 18 said that a man with “facial similarities to the accused was detained” on January 17, however, the cops clarified that the detention was not in connection with Saif Ali Khan’s stabbing case.
Also, on January 17, ANI clarified that the person in the white shirt, whose video the agency had shared a couple of hours ago, was unrelated to the Saif Ali Khan case and no arrests were made in the actor’s case yet.
Saif Ali Khan Attack Case | The person brought to Bandra police station for questioning is not related to the Saif Ali Khan Attack Case. No one is detained in Saif Ali Khan Attack Case of now: Mumbai police https://t.co/1pZBX0rgl2 pic.twitter.com/vG8WnpTauk
— ANI (@ANI) January 17, 2025
We also came across an X post by a Mid-Day journalist who said that the man in the white shirt (as seen in the ANI video) was brought in by the police on charges that he stole shoes. This means the video shared by IANS, showing the man taking shoes from a shoe rack, is unrelated to Khan’s stabbing.
The person brought to the Bandra Police Station for resembling the accused who attacked Saif Ali Khan turned out to be a chappal chor. #SaifAliKhan pic.twitter.com/8CZHlNVbgT
— فیضان خان FaizanKhan (@journofaizan) January 17, 2025
Therefore, users claiming on social media that the man in the white shirt entering Bandra police station was Khan’s attacker is far from true. Also, IANS’s claim from January 17 that Waris Ali was detained is baseless because the police categorically said no arrests were made until then.
Additionally, in the same viral video shared by IANS, Waris Ali’s wife herself clarifies that her husband was only being questioned. Her statement clearly says that her husband has been doing carpentry work at Saif Ali Khan’s residence since January 15 along with five others. She adds that Ali returned home that night after his work and this was even captured on CCTV. After the incident, Ali received a call and was asked to return to Khan’s residence from where he accompanied the police for questioning.
On January 18, IANS posted Mumbai special commissioner’s clarification that Aakash Kanojia, who was detained by the Durg RPF in Chhattisgarh, also had no connection to the Saif Ali Khan case.
Mumbai Special Commissioner has clarified that the accused arrested in Durg (Chhattisgarh) is not the person who attacked actor Saif Ali Khan. A police team is headed to Durg to investigate the suspect, who is involved in other cases but has no connection to actor Saif Ali Khan’s… https://t.co/00tGyiemHh pic.twitter.com/okw6Au4HDI
— IANS (@ians_india) January 18, 2025
On January 19, the Mumbai police held a press conference where Deputy Commissioner of Police Dixit Gedam said that the accused had been arrested on January 18 night and identified as Mohammad Shariful Islam Shahzad. DCP Gedam stated that they believe the accused entered the house with the motive of robbery, he shall be produced in front of a court to request police custody and the investigation will be continued.
Based on the above, it is evident that many, including news agencies, prematurely jumped to conclusions, falsely implicating individuals unrelated to the case. Additionally, claims linking the accused to any Hindutva organisations are also baseless.
Even after the Mumbai police made an arrest in the case, speculation regarding the whether he truly was the attacker continues. Many have claimed that the alleged attacker-robber’s features bore little resemblance to the image released by the police based on CCTV footage.
The post Saif Ali Khan stabbing: Unrelated individuals falsely labelled as accused appeared first on Alt News.
This content originally appeared on Alt News and was authored by Oishani Bhattacharya.
Oishani Bhattacharya | Radio Free (2025-01-23T09:35:47+00:00) Saif Ali Khan stabbing: Unrelated individuals falsely labelled as accused. Retrieved from https://www.radiofree.org/2025/01/23/saif-ali-khan-stabbing-unrelated-individuals-falsely-labelled-as-accused/
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