Durg: The Railway Protection Force (RPF) detained a suspect in the case of knife attack on actor Saif Ali Khan from a train at Durg railway station in Chhattisgarh on Saturday afternoon, an official said.
The man, identified as Aakash Kailash Kannojia (31), was traveling by Jnaneshwari Express which runs between Mumbai Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (LTT) to Kolkata Shalimar, the RPF official was quoted by news agency PTI as saying.
Around 12.30 pm, the RPF Post Durg received information from Mumbai Police about the suspect in Saif Ali Khan stabbing case travelling by Jnaneswari Express, and shared the location of his mobile phone and his photo, he said.
RPF Durg alerted its counterpart at Rajnandgaon station (which comes before Durg on Mumbai-Howrah route) but the suspect could not be located when the train halted there, the official said.
Two teams were kept ready at the Durg station, and on the arrival of the train, the suspect was found in the front general compartment, he said.
His photo was sent to Mumbai Police who confirmed his identity, the official said.
The intruder who attacked Khan had been captured in CCTV footage while going down a staircase at the actor’s building.
A Mumbai Police team is expected to reach Raipur by a flight in the evening and take his custody.
Khan, 54, a popular Bollywood star, was stabbed repeatedly by an intruder during a robbery attempt at his 12th floor residence in Mumbai’s Bandra area early Thursday morning.
The actor was rushed to Lilavati Hospital in an autorickshaw where he underwent emergency surgery. A 2.5-inch piece of the blade was removed from his spine after a five-hour-long surgery.
Khan – who was stabbed six times – is recovering well, doctors treating him said.
The intruder was spotted twice inside the building where Khan lives with his wife, actress Kareena Kapoor Khan, and their sons, Taimur and Jeh. CCTV footage, which emerged on Thursday, captured him wearing a red scarf and carrying a backpack as he hurried down the stairs around 2.30 am.
Later, the man was seen at Bandra railway station, and in another image, at Dadar railway station. Authorities suspect he may have boarded a train out of Mumbai.
