Never imagined he could commit such a crime, says friend of stabbing accused

According to police, Shariful Islam from Rajabariya village Jhalokathi district of Bangladesh, whose original name is Shariful Islam Sajjad Mohammed Rohilla Amin Fakeer, used the fake name of Vijay Das to conceal his real identity.

As his family members are not in the city, the Bandra police informed Islam’s close friend Khan about his arrest.

“He (Das) got the job through a contractor and worked with the Thane branch of Hotel Blabber All Day in the housekeeping section, while I was in the cafeteria section. He seemed to be a kind-hearted man. He never had any argument or fight with anyone and was good at his work,” said Khan.

Khan also said that Das (Islam) never talked about his past, family or his Bangladesh connection. “I left the Thane branch of the hotel in December but he left before that,” he said.

Islam alias Das worked at Blabber All Day in Hiranandani, Thane, from September to December 2024. According to Nelson Saldhana, general manager of Blabber All Day, the restaurant ended its contract with the manpower agency on December 15 due to unsatisfactory services.

“He was employed through a third-party contractor as part of the housekeeping team under the name Bijoy Das. He was a decent employee, and we had no complaints about him during his tenure,” said Saldhana. While the contractor holds his employment documents, the restaurant has copies of his Aadhaar and PAN cards, which identify him as Bijoy Das.

Islam was on the run for 70 hours after allegedly demanding Rs 1 crore and ttacking Saif Ali Khan at his Bandra residence Thursday early morning. He continuously changed his locations and also changed clothes to hoodwink police. His location was traced to Dadar, Worli, and eventually he was nabbed from Ghodbunder area of Thane.