Saif, Kareena rushed into room as intruder threatened staff, demanded Rs 1 crore

Man Entered Actor-Couple’s Quadruplex Around 2am; Third Attack In Bandra, After Salman & Baba Siddique; Sends Shockwaves; Receives Six Stab Wounds, Rushed To Hosp By Son In Auto While Attacker Flees
V Narayan & S Ahmed Ali | TNN (THE TIMES OF INDIA; January 17, 2025)

Mumbai: In an incident that sent shockwaves through Bollywood and raised questions about security in upscale neighbourhoods, actor Saif Ali Khan was stabbed repeatedly by an intruder in his penthouse in Bandra during an apparent burglary attempt early Thursday.

Khan, 54, sustained multiple wounds and was rushed to Lilavati Hospital where doctors operated on him. The hospital later issued a statement saying he was “out of danger”.

A Bandra police officer said the man is suspected to have scaled a wall to enter the 13-storey Satguru Sharan building.

A duct is believed to have given him access to a 11th floor flat through a toilet window. Khan owns the top four floors of the building.

The incident took place around 2.30 am. According to the FIR, the intruder—described as a man in his late 30s of slim build and dark complexion—was spotted by a stay-at-home nurse, Eliyamma Phillip, outside the actor’s son Jehangir’s bedroom. Phillip told police she woke up on hearing anoise and found a bathroom light on.

“I saw the shadow of a man wearing a cap and got nervous. He came out of the bathroom and tried to enter Jai baba’s bedroom. I immediately raised an alarm,” she said.

Phillip said the intruder warned her in English to stay silent and demanded Rs 1 crore before he attacked with a knife, causing minor injuries on her wrist, back and face. Her screams woke up a maid, Junu, who called out for help, prompting Saif and his wife Kareena Kapoor Khan to come rushing.

They were joined by a male domestic worker and two other maids. Saif was stabbed and slashed on the neck and spine and other body parts as he tried to overpower the intruder. “A piece of the knife that broke was found in his back,” said a police officer.
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In her statement to the police, the Khans’s house help sheds light on what went down during home invasion that left actor seriously injured
Faizan Khan (MID-DAY; January 19, 2025)

The intruder who entered actor Saif Ali Khan’s residence, Satguru Sharan, in the early hours of Thursday was first spotted by a house help, Eliyama Philip, and he had demanded Rs 1 crore, according to the Bandra police, who recorded her statement. “I asked him, ‘Aapko kya chahiye?’ He responded, ‘Need money’. When I asked him how much, he replied in English, ‘One crore’,” Eliyama revealed to the cops. Saif, who is undergoing treatment at Lilavati Hospital, sustained six severe stab wounds in the scuffle with the robber.

Meanwhile, the Mumbai Crime Branch has launched a manhunt for the accused, who is suspected to still be in the city. The cops are hunting for the attacker based on the description of domestic helpers who had a face-off with the attacker as he barged into the home.

Eliyama, the prime witness and complainant in the case, takes care of Saif and Kareena Kapoor Khan’s youngest son, Jehangir.  According to the police, the 10th to 13th floors and the terrace of Satguru Sharan belong to Khan. He lives on the 11th floor, while the terrace is used by the staff. At the time of the incident, his three children—including Ibrahim Ali Khan, three male and four women staffers and Kareena, were at home.

The family resides on the 11th and 12th floors of Satguru Sharan. The 11th floor has three rooms, and the couple stay in one while the second is for the couple’s first child, Taimur and Geeta, a nurse who looks after him. “The third room is for Jehangir, where I and another nanny, Junu, take care of him,” said Eliyama.

‘Sensed something unusual’
Eliyama’s statement to the police reads, “On January 15, around 11 pm, I fed Jayababa [Jehangir] and put him to bed. After that, Junu and I slept on the floor under his bed. On January 10, around 2 am, I woke up after hearing a sound. I got up and saw that the bathroom door was open, and the light was on inside. Assuming Kareena Ma’am had come to check on Jayababa, I went back to sleep. However, I sensed something unusual and woke up again.”

It further read, “This time, I saw someone wearing a cap standing near the bathroom door. As I leaned in to see more clearly, the person came out of the bathroom and started walking toward Jayababa’s bed. Alarmed, I quickly got up and went to Jayababa, but the person put a finger to his lips and said, ‘No sound,’ in Hindi. At that moment, Junu also woke up. The person threatened her as well, saying, ‘Koi awaaz nahi aur koi bahar bhi nahi jayega [No noise, and no one will leave]’.”

“As I tried to pick up Jayababa, the person ran toward me, holding a wooden object in his left hand and something like a hex blade in his right hand. During the struggle, he attempted to stab me with the blade. I raised my hands to block the attack and sustained injuries near my wrists and on the middle finger of my left hand. I then asked him, ‘Aapko kya chahiye?’ He responded, ‘Need money’. When I asked him how much, he replied in English, ‘One crore’,” the statement read.

According to Eliyama, Junu, seizing the opportunity, ran out of the room, screaming. “Hearing her, Saif Sir and Kareena Ma’am rushed into the room. Upon seeing the intruder, Saif Sir asked, ‘Kaun hai? What do you want?’ In response, the intruder attacked him with a wooden object and blade. When Geeta entered the room, the intruder got into a scuffle with her as well and attacked her.”

‘Saif Sir pushed him away’
Eliyama stated that during the commotion, Saif managed to shove the intruder away, and everyone, including the actor, ran out of the room, shutting the door behind them. “We then rushed upstairs to another room. By that time, [staffers] Ramesh, Hari, Ramu, and Paswan, who were sleeping in the staff quarters, came out to help. When we returned to the room with them, we found the door open, but the intruder was nowhere to be found despite searching the house thoroughly,” the statement read. 

According to Eliyama, Saif sustained injuries to the back of his neck, near his right shoulder, the left side of his back, and his left wrist and elbow while Geeta’s right wrist, back and face were wounded in the scuffle.

The immediate aftermath
According to the police, Kareena asked the staff to find an auto driver as there was no one available to drive the car. Ibrahim then took Saif to Lilavati Hospital in an autorickshaw, where he underwent surgery. “We have identified the person, and multiple teams have been formed to trace him. It appears that the intruder entered the house with the intent to commit robbery,” said Dixit Gedam, DCP, Zone IX.

An FIR has been registered under Sections 311 (robbery or dacoity with an attempt to cause death or grievous hurt), 312 (attempt to commit robbery or dacoity when armed with a deadly weapon) and 331(4)(6)(7) (punishment for house-trespass or housebreaking) of the BNS.