By Sudipto Ganguly and Shilpa Jamkhandikar
MUMBAI (Reuters) -Bollywood star Saif Ali Khan was out of danger, police said on Thursday, following stab injuries received in a scuffle with an intruder at his home in India’s financial capital of Mumbai for which he was undergoing surgery.
Among the country’s most bankable stars, Khan, 54, is the son of former India cricket captain Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi and actress Sharmila Tagore.
“He (Khan) is being treated … and is out of danger,” senior police officer Gedam Dixit told Reuters.
Earlier, news agency ANI quoted hospital official Niraj Uttamani as saying, “He is currently undergoing surgery,” and adding, “The extent of the damage will be understood once the surgery is complete.”
A small piece of a foreign body had been identified close to the spine, added Uttamani, the chief operating officer of the hospital where Khan was taken at around 3:30 a.m.
Khan, who has featured in more than 70 films and television series, in some also as producer, 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.
Representatives of his wife confirmed Khan was undergoing a procedure after the burglary attempt, adding, “The rest of the family is doing fine.”
A female employee at their home was also attacked and was being treated, added police, who have launched an investigation and a search for the perpetrator.
Film stars and opposition leaders called for police to beef up security measures in the city.
“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, asked on 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.
(Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly and Shilpa Jamkhandikar, writing by Sakshi Dayal; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
