Hours after the Mumbai Police finally caught hold of the main accused in the case of the attack on Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan in Thane, it was revealed that he gave a fake name to the cops initially in a bid to save himself.

The accused, who earlier told the cop that his name was Vijay Das, was arrested in the wee hours of Sunday in Thane, Maharashtra, three days after Saif was attacked. He was nabbed from a labour camp near a metro construction site, behind the TCS Call Center in Hiranandani Estate in Thane, in a joint operation by DCP Zone-6 Navnath Dhavale's team and the Kasarvadavali police.

However, during further interrogation, it was found that the man is actually named Mohammed Shehzad, and not Vijay Das, according to a report in NDTV. He reportedly gave out a false name to the police due to the fear of getting caught.

Preliminary investigation revealed he is a Bangladeshi citizen who illegally entered India. He also worked for a housekeeping agency.

The accused was reportedly found sleeping under dried grass and leaves deep inside bushes to avoid being seen. He used to previously work at a pub in Mumbai, the police said.

On January 16, actor Saif Ali Khan was gravely injured after the accused entered his residence located in an upscale locality of Bandra, Mumbai, around 2:30 am in an attempt to rob the house. However, when Saif intervened to protect his family, the accused attacked and stabbed him before fleeing the spot, leaving the actor with six wounds.

According to the statement given to the police by the Khan family's househelp, the attacker threatened to harm Saif and Kareena Kapoor Khan's youngest son, Jehangir Ali Khan, and demanded a ransom of Rs 1 crore.

Saif underwent surgery in the early hours of Thursday at the Lilavati Hospital, and a piece of broken knife was surgically removed from his back. The actor has been advised complete bed rest for a week.

With inputs from Megha Kuchik