NEW DELHI: Police investigating the near fatal knife attack on actor Saif Ali Khan have tweaked the motive of the crime from attempted robbery to a wider `international conspiracy`, getting a fiveday remand from a Mumbai court on Sunday to quiz a detained suspect they described as Mohammed Shariful Shehzad from Bangladesh.

`The accused is a citizen of Bangladesh. The suspicion of international conspiracy cannot be said to be impossible. So, sufficient time has to be given to the investigating officer. Therefore, granting police custody of five days,` the court said.

Reports were still sketchy about the 2.30am Thursday incident at the actor`s 12th floor highly guarded home in Mumbai`s Bandra locality.

The police were being secretive in their probe leading to considerable speculation.

During the hearing, the investigating officer defended his 14-day custody demand and said that the accused trespassed into Saif Ali Khan`s residence, attacked the actor, and injured two others. `Saif Ali Khan sustained grievous injuries, including a knife embedded in his body. We need to investigatehow the accused entered the actor`s residence and his motives behind the attack.

`He is a Bangladeshi national, and it is important to determine how he entered the country. We need 14-day custody,` the investigating officer insisted.

`No criminal record` The defence lawyer opposed the request for custody, arguing that the accused is not a Bangladeshi but an Indian citizen who resides in Mumbai. `The matter is being unnecessarily hyped because it involves Saif Ali Khan. Otherwise, it would have been treated as a normal case. The reasons for custody were not clearly stated in the remand application. The accused is a young boy with no prior criminal record and is being made a scapegoat,` the defence lawyer said.

According to the defence, the accused is unaware of the case details. Hearing arguments from both sides, the court said: `The investigation is in its early stages, and the accused was arrested only today.

Therefore, the grounds for seeking remand for a sufficient period of investigation are justified. The ground of illegalities in the arrest raised by the defence lawyer appear to be without sound reasoning` Speaking to the media after the case hearing, Shariful Shehzad`s lawyer Sandeep Shekhane said, the `angle of the case has been changed`.

`First of all, Saif Ali Khan has never made any statement or doesnot have any grievance with anyone that would create a threat for him from any state, Bangladesh or any other country. He does not have any international cases. They changed the angle of the case just... He was earlier in Bangladesh but he has been living here for many years now.

Police said he has been living here for 6 months, which is not true. The family is in Mumbai,` Shelchane said.

The crime branch and the local police had formed multiple teams to trace the accused after the attack.

The accused, identified as Mohammad Shariful Islam Shehzad, had eluded them for more than two days before arresting him on Sunday morning, reports said.

Political benefit The new angle in the case in BJPruled Maharashtra could offer a political benefit for the party in Delhi. Analysts say the Bangladeshi angle should help the party in a desperate race to win the 5th Feb Delhi assembly polls.

The BJP is hoping to dislodge the Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi and allegations of Muslim migrants from Bangladesh being voters in the Indian capital have yielded communal dividends.

Meanwhile, Saif Ali Khan, 54, underwent emergency surgery at the Lilavati Hospital, where he was rushed following the incident that took place athis natin the`Satguru Sharan` building. He is recovering and may be discharged soon, doctors said.