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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Catholic Bishops' body slams Bhagwat's remarks
New Delhi: The Catholic Bishops' Conference of India on Thursday slammed RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat for his reported remark that Pranab Mukherjee, when he was President, had said tribals would turn "anti-national" if there is no "ghar wapsi"Catholic Bishops.'
In a statement issued here, CBCI, a body of Catholic Bishops, referred to reports which said Bhagwat, at an event on Monday, claimed that Mukherjee, while he was President had appreciated ghar wapsi and told him that had it not been for the Sangh's work on reconversion, a section of Adivasis would have turned "anti-national".The CBCI called the report "shocking".
"Fabricated personal conversation being attributed to a former president of India and its posthumous publication with the vested interest of an organization with questionable credibility raises a grave issue of national importance," the CBCI claimed.
"Is it not the violent ghar wapsi program of VHP and other similar organizations, curtailing the exercise of freedom of conscience of economically deprived tribals, the real anti-national activity?" it asked.
'Ghar wapsi' is a term used by the RSS and affiliated organisations to refer to reconversion of Muslims and Christians to Hinduism, based on the belief that they were originally Hindus before converting to other religions.
The CBCI also questioned why Bhagwat did not speak about it while Mukherjee was alive.
"We, the 2.3 percent of Indian citizens who are Christians feel extremely hurt by such manipulated and motivated propaganda unleashed," it said.
In a post on X following the statement issued by CBCI, Trinamool Congress leader Derek O'Brien said, "Speak up. This is a start!"
"Bishops body have issued a statement condemning remarks made by Dr Mohan Bhagwat and RSS for defaming the Christian community," he said.
O'Brien added that they should ask Prime Minister Narendra Modi more questions, including why Christmas Day has been turned into "Good Governance Day".
The TMC leader, in a blogpost earlier this month, had said "hard questions" must be asked to the government with regards to the Christian community, including why the FCRA has been 'weaponised', and why has Manipur been 'ignored'.
