The manager-cum-supervisor of the labour service provider firm who helped Mohammed Shariful Islam Fakir, 30, accused of attacking actor Saif Ali Khan, had advised Shariful to flee to his village after the alleged attack.
This came to light during the questioning of Shariful, who was arrested from the Thane labour camp on January 19. In the presence of panchas, he described the sequence of events before and after the January 16 attack on Saif Ali Khan.
The statements of panchas are part of the chargesheet filed by the Mumbai Police at the 12th JMFC court Bandra.
The panchas (on January 28, 2025) stated that during questioning, Shariful told the investigation officer that he is from the Rajabariya village of Zilokathi district in Borishal state of Bangladesh and had come to India eight-and-half months ago. After spending 15 days in Kolkata, he came to Mumbai by Gitanjali Express.
On one question, Shariful told the investigation officer that on January 15 he took leave from his work so that he could get his Aadhaar card done. He also said that his supervisor had demanded Rs 30,000 — which is Rs 15,000 each for making his Aadhaar and Pan cards. He claimed that he decided to commit the theft to arrange this money.
“Once money was arranged, I would’ve made my Aadhaar card, Pan card and Passport so that I could go back to Bangladesh. Hence I decided to commit a theft on 15th (January),” Shariful stated during questionning, as per the Panchanama. He also narrated how he committed the recce and then attempted robbery.
When Shariful was hiding in Worli after the crime, he received a call from his supervisor-cum-manager, who told him that he was seen on pushan (which Shariful explained as TV news) and advised him to run away to his village, as per the statement.
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The manager-cum-supervisor was traced by the police on January 18 by tracking the CCTV at the Andheri railway station and a UPI payment of Rs 6 at a photocopy centre in Andheri. Police obtained Shariful’s mobile number from him and traced his location in Thane.
Later, police also took the manager to Thane to show were Shariful lived, but the suspect was not there.
On police’s instructions, when the manager contacted him, Shariful lied that he was in his village. To lure him out of hiding, the manager told him to come and take his salary. However, he was arrested late in the night from Thane.
Since, the manager later reportedly helped in the investigation with significant details of Shariful, police got his statement recorded under the provisions of section 183 of the Bhartiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, a confessional statement recorded before the magistrate.
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As per the charagesheet, when the investigation officer asked Shariful how much is Rs 1 crore (as he demanded the same amount during the failed robbery attempt at Saif’s house), Shariful told police that he thought Rs 1 lakh in Bangladesh was equivalent to India’s Rs 1 crore. Hence he demanded Rs 1 crore, as claimed during questioning.
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