In the Saif Ali stabbing case, after the incident, the accused, Shariful Islam, 30, went to Adarsh Nagar in Worli, where he was staying with Dablu Kumar Yadav, Rohit Yadav, and other roommates. On January 16, around 7:30 pm, Shariful told Rohit Yadav, “Rohit, I don’t have any money. Pandey has sent some—please withdraw it immediately.” Since Rohit did not have an ATM card, the money was transferred to Dablu Kumar Yadav’s account. The three of them went to an ATM centre in Worli, withdrew ₹1,000, and handed it over to Shariful. That night, Shariful stayed in the room, but he left the following morning. All the details are mentioned in the over 1,600-page chargesheet submitted by the Bandra police on April 8.
As per the chargesheet, Oshiwara police officer API Sandip Patil, 37, in his statement said that, on January 18, the police traced the accused, Shariful, to Andheri Railway Station, using the Railway’s facial recognition system. CCTV data showed Shariful at the station on January 9 at around 12:56 pm. After exiting the station, he was seen riding pillion on a motorcycle driven by his supervisor, Amit Pandey. The two visited a Xerox shop, where Pandey paid ₹6 via a QR code. Through this transaction, police obtained Pandey’s mobile number and traced his location to Sion. Once they obtained him, the police began questioning Pandey, who initially claimed he only knew Shariful as ‘Vijay’. Once the police secured Shariful’s mobile number from Pandey, the investigation progressed more smoothly.
Meanwhile, some reports claimed that while tracing Dablu Kumar Baleshwar Yadav’s bank account details, the police identified a connection to Amit Pandey. However, the chargesheet does not mention this.
Shariful and all his roommates were employed as housekeeping staff. According to Rohit and Dablu Kumar, Shariful shaved his head and beard on January 16, possibly to alter his appearance. Rohit and Dablu Kumar came to know Shariful’s real name after they saw him in the news.
The chargesheet also includes a statement from Amit Pandey, in which he confirmed that he had transferred ₹1,000 to Rohit Yadav’s account after receiving a call from Shariful made from an unidentified number. It was only on January 18 that Pandey saw Shariful’s photo on TV and recognised him. He was planning to approach the police on January 19, but before he could do so, news broke that Shariful had been arrested for attacking actor Saif Ali Khan. That was when Pandey learned Shariful’s real name.
