MUMBAI, India, Jan 18: The auto-rickshaw driver, Bhajan Singh Rana, who drove an injured Saif Ali Khan from his Bandra apartment to Lilavati Hospital said that when the Bollywood actor boarded his vehicle, he was "soaked in blood". The actor was clad in a white kurta and pyjama, the auto-rickshaw driver added.
Saif Ali Khan was taken to Lilavati Hospital in an auto rickshaw by his son Ibrahim Ali Khan at 3.30 am after the former was stabbed six times by an intruder.
The auto-rickshaw driver said that he was going by the posh Bandra West locality where Saif Ali Khan's apartment is located. This was when he was called by a woman “rickshaw rickshaw leke aao” (Bring your vehicle). The driver added that the woman came running to him.
He was asked to park the vehicle near the gate of the Satguru Sharan building.
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After he followed the instructions, the auto-rickshaw driver saw a man ‘khoon se lat pat’ (covered in blood). When asked if he recognized the man as Saif Ali Khan, the man said he did not.
The auto-rickshaw driver failed to recognize that the man in the white pyjama and kurta was Saif Ali Khan; he assumed it was simply an injured individual who had been involved in a scuffle.
The auto-rickshaw driver also noted that Saif Ali Khan's family initially planned to take him to Holy Family Hospital in Bandra but later changed their decision and instructed him to drive to Lilavati Hospital instead.
The auto-rickshaw driver took Saif Ali Khan to Lilavati Hospital without realising he was ferrying a Bollywood actor. Bhajan Singh Rana only learned of Saif Ali Khan's identity when the actor announced it while seated in the vehicle at the hospital.
Bhajan Singh Rana further informed that Khan was seated in his vehicle for a few minutes before he was taken inside the hospital.
Bhajan Singh Rana told Mid-Day that he took a shortcut to Lilavati Hospital from Saif Ali Khan's apartment. Describing the route, Rana said he took Hill Road, followed by Chapel Road to reach Lilavati Hospital as soon as possible.
According to Google Maps, the distance between Saif Ali Khan's Apartment and Lilavati Hospital is at least 1.5 km.
The driver said he did not take the fare amount from Saif Ali Khan after he dropped him at the hospital within seven to eight minutes. The actor was speaking with the boy in the auto, Rana said, adding there was also another young man in the auto, in an apparent reference to Ibrahim Ali Khan.
