Mumbai, Jan 23 : Actor Saif Ali Khan met auto driver Bhajan Singh Rana on Tuesday to thank him for rushing him to Lilavati Hospital after a burglary incident at his Bandra home last week, during which he was stabbed multiple times. The meeting took place before Saif’s discharge from the hospital.
Photos shared on X (formerly Twitter) show Saif Ali Khan and Bhajan Singh Rana posing together, one of them seated on a hospital bed with Saif smiling and putting his arm around the driver. Another photo shows the two standing together. The auto driver also met Saif’s family, including his mother, veteran actress Sharmila Tagore, who expressed gratitude for his timely intervention.
The stabbing occurred on January 16 when an intruder, identified as Mohammad Shariful Islam Shehzad, an illegal immigrant from Bangladesh, allegedly broke into Saif’s home during an attempted robbery. According to PTI, the attacker stabbed the actor in the back to free himself after Saif tried to restrain him during an altercation noticed by a staff member around 2:30 a.m. The attacker fled the scene through the same bathroom window he used to enter the property. Police apprehended him three days later.
Bhajan Singh Rana recounted the events of that night to ANI: “I drive my vehicle at night. It was around 2-3 a.m. when I saw a woman trying to hire an auto, but nobody stopped. I also heard calls for a rickshaw from inside the gate. I took a U-turn and stopped my vehicle near the gate. A man covered in blood came out, along with 2-4 others. They put him in the auto and decided to go to Lilavati Hospital. I dropped them there, and later I came to know that he was Saif Ali Khan. I saw him bleeding from his neck and back.”
Saif Ali Khan’s quick recovery and acknowledgment of Bhajan Singh Rana’s assistance have drawn attention on social media, with many praising the driver’s swift action in a critical situation.
