Six days after he survived a murderous attack at his Bandra residence, Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan was discharged from the Lilavati Hospital here on Tuesday evening. Fifty-four-year-old Saif — dressed in a white shirt and a pair of denims - looked hale, hearty and cheerful, as he walked out of the hospital and briefly raised his arm to wave at his fans and media persons, before heading in a car towards his home. A few close aides and private security personnel accompanied him.
Saif was seen with friends and neighbours, as he walked into his “Satguru Sharan” building.
Minutes later, the actor returned to his 12th floor apartment where he had sustained six stab injuries, including the one in his spine, in a knife attack on him by an intruder between 2 am and 2.30 am on Thursday last.
The intruder, who has now been identified as a Bangladeshi national Shariful Islam Shahzad (30) - is currently in the custody of the Mumbai police.
After he was brutally stabbed by the intruder after a failed burglary attempt, a profusely bleeding Saif himself taken an autorickshaw and rushed to the Lilavati Hospital at around 3 am.
His eight-year-old son Taimur had accompanied Saif to the hospital in the autorickshaw.
The doctors attending on Saif at the Lilavati were all praise for the actor whom they called him a “real-life hero’ “who despite being in deep pain, covered in blood, but managed to reach the hospital on his own in an autorickshaw barely an hour after the attack on him in the small hours of yesterday”.
After his admission to the Lilavati Hospital, the actor had undergone a surgery for removal of a knife stuck in his spine and for 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.
While Saif was in the hospital, a health insurance document of the actor had surfaced on social media. Niva Bupa Health Insurance, of which Saif is a policy-holder, confirmed the health insurance claim made by the actor on the day of his admission to the hospital.
The leaked health insurance document showed that Saif had claimed Rs 35.98 lakh for his treatment of the stab wounds he had suffered during the attack. Of the amount, the insurance company gave an approval for Rs 25 lakh at the beginning of his treatment at the hospital. Interestingly enough, the document had said that the actor’s expected discharge was January 21, which incidentally proved to be correct.