Theft only motive, no gang behind attack on Saif: Minister
Mumbai: No underworld gang is behind the knife attack on Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan, Maharashtra minister of state for home Yogesh Kadam said on Friday.
“A suspect who has been detained in connection with the attack (and released later) is not part of any gang. No gang has carried out this attack,” Kadam told reporters in Pune.
Kadam said theft was the only motive behind the attack on the actor.
Police had picked up a carpenter in connection with the attack as he resembled the intruder and brought him to the Bandra police station for questioning on Friday morning, but released him later. A senior police official clarified the man was not related to the attack on Khan and no one has been arrested so far.
"There has been no intimation from Saif Ali Khan to police till date on whether he faced any threat,” the minister said. “He has not sought any security cover, but if he does so, we will follow due procedure,” he added.
Queried if the actor would be provided security following the incident, Kadam said Khan can put forth a demand if he believes there is a threat to his life.
"The police administration will take appropriate decision after a review (of the demand). There is a police committee which reviews applications seeking security. It is provided on the basis of severity of threat to a person," the minister added.
Khan (54) suffered grievous injuries after an intruder stabbed him with a knife repeatedly at his 12th-floor flat in upscale Bandra in the early hours of Thursday. The actor, who received multiple stab injuries, including in his neck, underwent an emergency surgery at Mumbai's Lilavati Hospital.
He is doing "very well" and expected to be discharged in two to three days, doctors said on Friday.
Asked about possible involvement of a criminal gang in the attack, the minister maintained primary investigations have ruled out any such angle. So far, theft seems to be the only motive behind the incident, he added.
CCTV footage showed the suspected assailant, wearing a red scarf and carrying a backpack, scurrying down the stairs from the sixth floor of the 'Satguru Sharan' building where Khan lives.
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UP man gets life term for electrocuting mentally challenged wife to death in Bareilly
Bareilly (UP) (PTI): A local court here has sentenced a man to life imprisonment for murdering his mentally challenged wife by repeatedly electrocuting her while she was tied to a cot, lawyers said on Thursday.
Additional district government counsel Harendra Singh Rathore said Additional Sessions Judge Avinash Kumar Singh on Wednesday convicted Vinod Kumar (45) for killing his wife, Satyavati, in Chaina village of Bareilly district and imposed a fine of Rs 15,000 on him.
According to the prosecution, he was allegedly frustrated with his wife Satyavati's mental illness and often assaulted her.
Rathore said the prosecution examined nine witnesses to establish the charges against him.
As per court records, on the night of May 1-2, 2022, when Satyavati was asleep, Vinod tied her hands and legs to a cot using ropes and then connected an aluminium cable to an electric board to repeatedly administer electric shocks to her.
"She writhed in pain, but the accused continued to electrocute her until she died," the prosecution said.
The court observed that the murder was carried out in an inhuman manner.
After committing the crime, the accused threw the rope and cable on the roof and left for work at a brick kiln around 2 am to create a false alibi.
He later tried to mislead the police and the victim's family by claiming that Satyavati, whose mental condition was unstable, had accidentally died by suicide after grabbing a live electric wire.
However, the victim's brother, Sanjeev, a resident of Shahjahanpur district, suspected foul play and lodged an FIR under sections 498A (husband subjecting wife to cruelty) and 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code at Nawabganj police station.
During the trial, the prosecution relied on the post-mortem report prepared by Dr Faraz Anwar, who stated that multiple electrocution marks found on different parts of the victim's body could not have been self-inflicted.
The police also recovered the rope and electric wire used in the crime on the accused's identification, officials said.
