Mumbai: Shariful Islam, a Bangladeshi national arrested for allegedly attempting to burgle actor Saif Ali Khan’s Bandra residence and grievously assaulting him in Jan 2025, filed a fresh plea to plead guilty during a court hearing on Thursday.Shariful, who is currently in judicial custody, was produced before the court for the hearing.The court also directed the jail authorities to initiate communication with the Bangladesh Embassy through the proper official channel and ensure that the accused is given the facility to communicate with the embassy.On Sept 11, the court had rejected Shariful’s earlier attempt to plead guilty in the case. The matter has now been adjourned to Oct 23.On Aug 28, the 31-year-old had first sought to plead guilty and prayed for leniency in sentencing. The plea came days after the court framed stringent charges against him for armed robbery or dacoity with attempts to cause death or grievous hurt. Charges were also framed on Aug 14 under the Foreigners Act and the Passport (Entry into India) provisions for allegedly entering and staying in India illegally. The maximum punishment attracted in the case is life imprisonment.On Sept 11, during a virtual hearing, the court declined the request for leniency through a guilty plea, paving the way for a trial to proceed on the charges of armed robbery and dacoity.When an accused pleads guilty, the accused gives up the right to a full trial. Such an application is usually filed before the court where the trial is pending and may include details such as whether the accused has any previous conviction in a similar case. A guilty plea is often placed before the court as a mitigating circumstance at the stage of sentencing.According to the prosecution, Shariful surveyed the Bandra and Khar areas on the night of Dec 31, 2024, before taking up a job at a hotel in Bandra West, located a few metres from Satguru Sharan, where Khan lives. After a dispute with the hotel owner, Shariful quit the job.On Jan 16, 2025, Shariful allegedly walked from Bandra to Khar and then reached Satguru Sharan, where the prosecution claims an attempted burglary led to the attack on Khan. The prosecution has accused Shariful of grievously injuring Khan, a staff member and another witness with a deadly weapon, with intent to cause death.Shariful was arrested on Jan 19, 2025. During interrogation, the police allegedly found that he was a Bangladeshi citizen who had entered India illegally.The chargesheet contains 40 witness statements and forensic material. The prosecution has claimed that bloodstains found on the accused’s T-shirt matched Khan’s blood sample.Eliyamma Phillip (56) a staff nurse employed by Khan, allegedly identified Shariful during an identification parade at Arthur Road Jail on Feb 5, 2025.The prosecution has also submitted that left-hand fingerprints of the arrested accused were found at the crime scene. The police relied on facial recognition material and claimed that Shariful’s face matched the image captured in the CCTV footage from Khan’s residence. The prosecution further claimed that a medical officer reported that Khan’s injuries were caused by the weapon recovered from the accused.A report from the Forensic Science Laboratory in Kalina was also cited by the prosecution. According to the prosecution, the report stated that the knife blade piece found at the crime scene, the partially broken knife recovered from Shariful and the knife piece found in Khan’s body were parts of the same knife.During crime reconstruction, Shariful allegedly showed the police how he entered Khan’s flat. The prosecution claimed he climbed a 4ft wall, used a ladder for a 12ft ascent to the duct, reached the fourth floor, cut the rat mesh, used the stairs to reach the 10th floor and climbed through duct pipes to enter the flat’s bathroom. The prosecution alleged Shariful used the same route to escape and jumped 12 ft while descending after noticing that the ladder was missing.
