There is still more than what meets the eye in matters relating to the recent attack on Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan and the arrest of the accused Shariful Islam Shehzad Mohammad Amin Fakir for his alleged involvement in the incident. Or so it appears, going by the questions being raised in different quarters about the actor’s rapid recovery and also the identity of the arrested Bangladeshi national.

On his part, Shariful’s father Mohammed Ruhul Amin Fakir has questioned the authenticity of the of the CCTV footage used to make the arrest of his son did not match with that of the person in the CCTV footage taken from actor’s building on the day of incident, in which the intruder to Saif;s house is seen climbing down the stairs. The CCTV-based photograph which initially made it to social media has been featured widely in print and electronic media.

Talking to a leading television, the accused’s father Mohammed Fakir said: “The person in the CCTV footage is not my son. But the police have used this footage as the basis to arrest my son (in connection with the Saif Ali Khan attack)”.

Mohammed Fakir also defended his son by saying his son had never kept his hair long, unlike the person in the video.

Shariful was arrested by the Mumbai police from Hiranandani Estate at Thane (west) on January 19. Police said Shariful hailed from Rajabariya village in Nalchity sub-region of Jhalokati district in southern Bangladesh.

When Shariful was produced before a holiday court on the same day, the accused’s lawyer Sandeep D. Sherkhane had contested the claim made by the police that his client was a Bangladeshi who came to Mumbai six months ago.

“The accused has been living in Mumbai with his family for the past 7 years. I argued in court yesterday very clearly on this. The police are trying to make him a scapegoat as this case involves a Bollywood celebrity,” Sherkhane had said.

It may be recalled that during the knife attack carried out on him allegedly by Shariful in the small hours of January 16, Saif had had sustained six stab wounds, including the one in his spine while he was grappling an intruder in the actor’s 12th floor apartment in posh “Satguru Sharan” building at Bandra (W) in north-west Mumbai.

The knife attack on the actor had taken place between 2 am and 2.30 am on Thursday, after a failed attempt of a burglary.

After his admission to the Lilavati Hospital, the actor had undergone a surgery for removal of a knife stuck in his spine and also plugging the leakage of spinal fluid. During a surgery carried out on him immediately afterwards, the doctors attending on Saif removed a 2.5-inch piece of knife from Saif’s spine.

Meanwhile, the Opposition Congress on Thursday jumped into the raging controversy over the identities of the person seen in Saif building-related footage and the person arrested in connection with the crime.

“The media is claiming that the person seen in the Saif-attack related CCTV footage and the person arrested for the crime are not the same. The Mumbai police should come clean and issue a clarification in the matter. They should present the truth to the public,” Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole said.

In a related development, two ruling MahaYuti leaders - Sanjay Nirupam of the Shinde Shiv Sena and BJP Minister Nitesh Rane - have questioned as how the Bollywood actor, who had sustained six bullet wounds including the one in his spine, had managed to recover from the grievous injuries so fast.

Nirupam, who is the deputy leader of Shiv Sena led by Eknath Shinde, said that though he had full sympathies for Saif Ali Khan and his family, he had had sincere doubts as to how the actor could recover so fast.

“The way Saif Ali Khan came out of the hospital, it appeared as if nothing had happened four days ago... I want to ask the doctors, can a person whose operation lasted for 6 hours come out in such good shape within 4 days?,” Nirupam asked.

“It should be revealed how deadly the attack was and how badly the actor was injured. The family should come forward and disclose this because, after this incident, such an atmosphere was created in Mumbai that the law and order of Mumbai has collapsed, the Home Ministry has failed, the Maharashtra government has been ruined, and every citizen in Mumbai is unsafe,” Nirupam said.

Echoing the doubts expressed by Nirupam, Rane — Rane, who is the Ports and Fisheries Minister in the BJP-led MahaYuti Cabinet, said: “When I saw Saif Ali Khan coming out of the hospital, I doubted whether he had been stabbed six days ago or was he acting. He was dancing while walking”.