'Was he stabbed or acting': Maharashtra minister Nitesh Rane questions Saif Ali Khan attack

Saif Ali Khan was discharged from Lilavati Hospital, where he was being treated after the stabbing incident

Maharashtra cabinet minister Nitesh Rane on Thursday questioned whether actor Saif Ali Khan was genuinely stabbed during the robbery attempt or merely acting.

Referring to Khan as "garbage", Rane accused the actor of "dancing while walking" out of the hospital.

“Look at what Bangladeshis are doing in Mumbai. They entered Saif Ali Khan's house. Earlier they used to stand at the crossings of the roads, now they have started entering houses. Maybe he came to take him (Saif) away. It is good, garbage should be taken away. I saw when he came out of the hospital, I doubted whether he had been stabbed or he was acting. He was dancing while walking,” he told ANI.

#WATCH | Pune: Maharashtra Minister Nitesh Rane says, "Look at what Bangladeshis are doing in Mumbai. They entered Saif Ali Khan's house. Earlier they used to stand at the crossings of the roads, now they have started entering houses. Maybe he came to take him (Saif) away. It is pic.twitter.com/XUBwpwQ6RQ

ANI (@ANI) January 23, 2025

The minister also said that whenever “any Khan like Shahrukh Khan or Saif Ali Khan gets hurt, everyone starts talking about it”. “When a Hindu actor like Sushant Singh Rajput is tortured, no one comes forward to say anything... That Mumbra's Jeetuddin (Jitendra Awhad) and Baramati's Tai (Supriya Sule) did not come forward to say anything... They are only worried about Saif Ali Khan, Shah Rukh Khan's son and Nawab Malik... Have you ever seen them worrying about any Hindu artist... You guys should pay attention to all these things,” he said.

On Wednesday, former MP Sanjay Nirupam of the Shinde faction of the Shiv Sena claimed the visuals of Saif coming out of Lilavati Hospital “jumping and walking”, and the arrest of a “Bangladeshi” whose kind is “usually involved in peddling drugs”, had deepened the mystery. “There are certain unanswered questions in my mind, and I believe many citizens of Mumbai feel the same… When the attack on him happened, it was reported by doctors that a 2.5-inch knife had pierced his back. The doctors also mentioned that the surgery lasted six hours. Moreover, the auto driver who transported him said that he was in a severely injured and bloody condition when he was brought to the hospital,” said Nirupam.

Khan was discharged from Lilavati Hospital, where he was being treated after the stabbing incident, on Tuesday.

According to the police, Shariful Shehzad, a Bangladeshi national living illegally in India, attacked the actor. The cops also said Shehzad, who said he didn't know he was in the actor's home, was trying to burgle it when he was confronted, first by the nanny and then Khan. Shehzad has been arrested and is in police custody.