Yet another actor has joined the ranks of the “slap-happy” in Bollywood. Barely weeks after Shah Rukh Khan and Shirish Kunder got into fisticuffs at a private party and Vivek Oberoi attacked a journalist who asked him one uncomfortable question too many, Saif Ali Khan finds himself in the figurative dock for assaulting a guest at a posh South Mumbai hotel.
In the wee hours of Wednesday morning, the actor — who was accompanied by fiancée Kareena Kapoor, her sister Karisma and starlet Amrita Arora — got into a fight with a fellow diner at the Wasabi by Morimoto at the Taj Mahal Hotel, Mumbai. The Colaba police, who booked Saif for assault, said the altercation ensued when the diner, seated at an adjoining table, asked Saif and his friends to stop talking loudly. The argument escalated and Saif punched the man on his nose, fracturing it in the process.
Sub inspector Dadaso Edke of the Colaba police station said, “In the 10-member group, Saif was accompanied by Kareena and Karisma Kapoor, Amrita Arora and other friends. The other diner, Iqbal Sharma (a resident of Juhu) was seated at the adjoining table at Wasabi restaurant.”
According to Edke, Saif and his friends were making a lot of noise to which Iqbal took objection. “At about 12:30 am on Wednesday, Saif and his friends got into a scuffle with Iqbal following which Saif punched Iqbal on his nose,” he said.
The police said that Iqbal, who is an NRI from South Africa was rushed to GT Hospital where it was found that his nose had been fractured. “He brought the hospital’s certificate to us, following which we registered an offence under sections 325 and 34 of the Indian Penal code for causing grievous hurt,” Edke said. Seemingly, Saif’s group had left the restaurant by the time the offence was registered.
Police are now in the process of recording the statements of witnesses and the restaurant staff and Iqbal Sheikh, the assistant commissioner of police, Colaba division, said Saif would be questioned soon. “We are looking for him and will interrogate him soon,” he said. Incidentally, this is not the first time that Saif has been involved in allegations of this sort. In 2008, a case was registered against the actor for allegedly assaulting a journalist during a film shoot.
Saif was not available for comment, and his publicist also could not be reached.