Poverty, desperation, ailing mother—what drove Saif's attacker to break in
What's the story
Shariful Fakir, a Bangladeshi national, was arrested for breaking into Saif Ali Khan's home and stabbing him last week.
Now reports suggest extreme poverty drove him to commit this crime.
"He chose Saif's residence randomly. All he wanted was to steal from someone rich and escape to Bangladesh with the loot to help his ailing mother," said an officer.
His desperation grew after losing his housekeeping job at a Thane restaurant on December 15.
Migrant path
Fakir's journey from Bangladesh to Mumbai
Fakir reportedly entered India by crossing the Dawki River on the India-Bangladesh border at Meghalaya, paying ₹10,000 to an agent who took him to Assam.
"The agent helped him board a bus to Kolkata, where he stayed for three days before taking a train to Mumbai in May. The agent also helped him get a SIM card," police said.
Once in Mumbai, he wandered aimlessly for three days, living on the roadside before finding employment through Pandey.
Job woes
Fakir's employment history and financial struggles
Before joining the Thane restaurant in September last year, Fakir worked at a Worli restaurant, earning ₹13,000 a month.
He told police during interrogation that from this amount, he would send ₹12,000 to Bangladesh for his mother's medical treatment, keeping only ₹1K for himself.
One day in August, the restaurant management found him stealing and terminated his employment.
Having studied only till Class 2, he found another menial job at the Thane restaurant.
Crime details
Fakir's crime plan and execution
After losing his second job, Fakir settled on committing a burglary and surveyed locations across the posh parts of Bandra and Khar on December 31 and January 1.
"He carried housebreaking tools like a screwdriver, hammer, and hacksaw blade, which he had bought a few days prior. The knife he later used to attack the actor, he had stolen from the Thane restaurant where he used to work," said an officer.
Arrest
Police tracked down Fakir using phone records, e-wallet payments
"After the crime, he was in Bandra-Khar for hours before taking a train to Dadar. He was unaware till then that he had stabbed a famous actor. He told us during questioning that his attack on Saif was unplanned."
Police tracked Fakir after Pandey provided his Worli location and phone number.
"We found that he used an e-wallet to pay ₹6 for a cup of tea in Worli. His last location was traced to a labor camp in Thane."
Fanaticism
Fakir's obsession with Shah Rukh Khan
During questioning, police found out that Fakir was a Shah Rukh Khan fan and had attempted to scale the walls of the actor's Bandra bungalow Mannat "to get a dekko at the superstar" before the Saif incident.
"He said his friends and family often told him that he looked like SRK. That would puff him up."
Meanwhile, Police seized Fakir's mobile phone, cap, scarf, and shirt for forensic analysis but are yet to recover the missing portion of the knife.