Saif Ali Khan attack: Police custody of accused extended till January 29

Seeking seven more days of custody, public prosecutor Kishor Patil told the court that there has been considerable progress in the case and further custodial interrogation of the accused was necessary to recover additional evidence. “We need to recover the shoes he wore during the incident. We also need to understand the source from whom he obtained the weapon,” Patil told the court.

The police added that the accused was not cooperating with the investigation and they were trying to identify the motive behind the crime.

Officials have recovered CCTV footage of the suspect from the residential premises of Khan and from other locations in the city. They want to conduct a facial recognition test, Prasad Joshi, another public prosecutor, informed the court.

The police said they wanted to ascertain how Islam managed to acquire the mobile phone and SIM card recovered from him. An officer stated, “We have recovered a fake Aadhar card with Islam’s picture, but it was made in the name of Vijay Das. We want to determine the source from where he obtained it.”

Defence lawyer Sandeep Sherkhane, arguing that custodial interrogation was not necessary, said, “It is suspicious that family members and others present inside the house did not contact the police or security personnel in the building. Instead, they went directly to the hospital.” The lawyer claimed that Islam was being falsely implicated in the case because he is a Bangladeshi national.

After hearing submissions from both sides, the court observed that the offense was serious. It noted that further collection of evidence, interrogation and investigation are necessary, and therefore, continued police custody is required.

Khan underwent a series of surgeries in the wake of the attack and was discharged from hospital on Thursday.