MUMBAI: Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan was stabbed repeatedly by an intruder at his home in Mumbai on Thursday, but doctors treating him said he was out of danger after surgery.
Khan, 54, was “on the path to complete recovery” after receiving stab wounds on his spine, neck and hand, the doctors told reporters.
“He sustained a major injury to the thoracic spinal chord due to a lodged knife in the spine. Surgery was performed to remove the knife and also repair the leaking spinal fluid,” said Nitin Dange, one of the doctors operating on Khan.
Khan was attacked just after midnight when he tried to stop the intruder, believed to be a burglar, from entering his apartment in the upscale neighbourhood of Bandra, police and local media said.
A female employee at the apartment was also attacked and was being treated, police said.
The son of former India cricket captain Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi and actress Sharmila Tagore, Khan is among the country’s most bankable stars, having featured in more than 70 films and television series, in some also as a producer.
He lives in an apartment in the western suburb of Bandra, along with his wife Kareena Kapoor Khan, who is also an actor, and their two children, Jeh and Taimur.
Khan was taken to a nearby hospital at around 3:30 a.m. on Thursday with six injuries, two deeper than the rest and one close to his spine, news agency ANI said, citing Niraj Uttamani, the hospital’s chief operating officer.
“A small piece of foreign body close to the spine is identified,” it quoted the official as saying. “He is currently undergoing surgery… The extent of the damage will be understood once the surgery is complete.”
Representatives for Khan confirmed he was in surgery after the burglary attempt, media said, but they did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
Police said they were investigating the incident, and searching for the assailant, who fled the scene, media said.
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Film stars and opposition leaders called for tougher security.
“If such high-profile people with … security can be attacked in their homes, what could happen to common citizens?” Clyde Crasto, spokesperson of the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party, said on messaging platform X.
India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies won November elections in the western state of Maharashtra, the capital of which is Mumbai.
Actor and filmmaker Pooja Bhatt also called for a greater police presence in the suburb home to many in the film industry.
“The city, and especially the queen of the suburbs, have never felt so unsafe before,” she said on X, using a popular description for the trendy area.
Reuters has a minority stake in ANI.
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