A man who was detained from a train in Chhattisgarh as a suspect in the actor Saif Ali Khan case, but was let off after the ‘real attacker’ was caught, has said his life is in ‘complete disarray’ following police action.
Akash Kanojia, a driver with a tour company which works with Western Railway in Mumbai, was detained on January 18 by the Railway Protection Force after a tip-off from Mumbai Police. Saif Ali Khan was allegedly stabbed by an intruder in the wee hours of January 16 at his apartment in a residential society in the upscale Bandra locality of India’s financial and entertainment capital.
On January 19, Mumbai Police arrested a Bangladeshi national, Shariful Islam Shehzad, from Thane near Mumbai. Kanojia was subsequently released.
The actor underwent a surgery and was discharged on January 21.
‘One mistake of Mumbai Police…’
Slamming Mumbai cops, Kanojia said his family was left ‘shocked’ and ‘in tears’ after news channels began flashing his pictures as the ‘main suspect.’
“Their one mistake ruined my life. They failed to notice I had a moustache and the person in the CCTV grab from the actor’s building did not,” he told news agency PTI.
Kanojia was travelling from Mumbai to Bilaspur to meet his prospective bride when he was detained by railway protection force officers at Durg railway station.
Kanojia was travelling from Mumbai to Bilaspur by Jnaneswar Express on January 17 to meet his prospective bride when he was detained by railway protection force (RPF) officers at Durg railway station. This was after Mumbai police alerted the RPF, saying he was the person behind the foiled burglary attempt at actor Saif Ali Khan’s apartment in Bandra West on January 16.
“The RPF personnel not only apprehended me, they also issued a press release with my photograph, which was shown widely by television channels and media outlets. As a result, the bride’s family cancelled the meeting with me and my employer terminated my services,” Kanojia told HT.
“I had got a call from police who asked me where I was. The call was disconnected after I told them I was at home. I was travelling to meet my prospective bride when I was detained at Durg and then taken to Raipur. The Mumbai Police team that reached there assaulted me as well,” the youngster claimed, as quoted by PTI.
Kanojia also stated that after his release, his mother told him to come home, but his life started ‘unravelling’ from there on.
“When I called my employer, he asked me not to report to work. He refused to listen to my explanation. My grandmother then told me the family of my prospective bride had refused to go ahead with marriage,” he explained.
Kanojia, who described the Bangladeshi national’s arrest as a ‘divine intervention,’ admitted he has two cases against him – one each in Mumbai’s Cuffe Parade business district and Gurugram city in Haryana – but asked if he should have been ‘pulled up in such a manner’ and then ‘be left in the lurch.’
He remarked that he now plans to stand outside Saif Ali Khan’s society and seek a job as ‘I have lost everything because of what happened to him.’
(With inputs from Vinay Dalvi)