Mumbai, Feb 24: Mumbai police probing Wednesday midnight brawl involving Saif Ali Khan today said his counter complaint against South African businessman Iqbal Sharma does not carry “much weight” as the Bollywood actor had not suffered any injury.
Khan, according to investigators, has also not submitted any medical report to corroborate his claim that he too got injured during the fracas while acting in self-defence after being first hit by Sharma.
“While recording his statement, Saif repeatedly claimed that Sharma was the first to hit him. But he also mentioned he reacted to defend himself. That is enough for us to say he had punched Sharma,” said an investigating officer at Colaba police station.
“Moreover, Saif's complaint against Sharma does not hold much weight as he had no injuries,” the officer added.
The police have recorded the statement of witnesses at the Taj Mahal hotel who were either present during the brawl at ‘Wasabi' restaurant or had rushed to the spot on hearing the commotion.
“We have recorded the statement of Taj's staff,” said Vinod Sawant, senior inspector at the police station but refused to divulge the contents.
Sources said the hotel management has been asked to make available footage from CCTV cameras at the lobby, corridor and entrance to see if they had captured any shots of the fight.
Investigators, who had pinned their hopes on CCTV footage for evidence against Khan, were left disappointed when they were told yesterday that there were no video cameras installed in the area where the brawl had taken place. Meanwhile, sources said Sharma has left for South Africa for some work after obtaining permission from the police.
Khan along with his two friends was on Wednesday arrested and released by police on bail after being charged with assaulting Indian origin South African national Sharma, who protested the noisy chatter of the actor and his friends at the Japanese restaurant.
The 41-year-old actor and his two friends Shakeel Ladak and Bilal Amrohi had been booked under sections 325 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intent) of IPC.
