http://www.filmicafe.com/celebrity_interview_detail.php?interview_id=1294
"I was assaulted and I was just defending myself. It was an ugly incident and even I have lodged a complaint," Saif Ali Khan said after he was arrested.
Here is the actor's statement on the entire incident:There was an ugly incident last night where my friends and the ladies with us were abused and I was assaulted.
I was hit and I defended myself. I have been to the police station to answer the requirements of law as I am a law-abiding citizen. I have also filed a complaint about what happened last night and I am confident justice will be done.
I have seen the interviews given on TV and they look like decent people and I cannot believe that the same people were so aggressive the night before and the lies that they are saying about me with such straight faces.
I think they have the CCTV footage in the restaurant that will prove everything.
I hope the media is able to remain impartial while the matter is decided. I don't think any gentleman would have behaved differently.
Saif Ali Khan was on Wednesday night arrested and released by the police on bail after being charged with assaulting an NRI businessman who protested the raucous chatter of the Bollywood actor and his friends in a restaurant at a luxury hotel last midnight.
Khan, Shakeel Ladak and Bilal Amrohi were brought to the Colaba police station around 8 PM in a police vehicle and whisked inside through the rear entrance amid a large media and public presence.
All the three were enlarged on bail after the completion of the formalities that took about an hour, police said. According to sources, Khan had left his lawyer's office at Gamdevi in his own car but boarded the police vehicle near Nariman Point where he and others were arrested before being brought to the police station.
Since the actor was booked under lighter, bailable sections of the penal law, he was granted bail by the police instead of having to approach a court.
There was huge security bandobust at the police station which was out of bounds for the media. According to the complaint, the actor accosted Sharma near the staircase at the entrance of the restaurant and after some heated arguments, punched him on the nose, causing a fracture.
Sharma, who is the former Director General and CEO of trade, industry and investment of South Africa, alleged that even his 68-year-old father-in-law who tried to intervene was not spared by Khan and his three friends who rained blows on them.
Sharma, currently Chairman and CEO of ISSAR Company, later went to GT Hospital for a medical examination and reported the matter to the police at around 2.30 this morning following which the complaint was registered against the actor.
"Our audacity to complain to the management asking them to keep their voice down perturbed him," Sharma said, adding he would pursue the case to the "full extent of law" and that it was "too late for a compromise to be reached".
"We intend to pursue it to the full extent of the law. The criminal process will take its course and then we will consult our attorney and look at the civil aspect, but we will pursue it to the full extent of law," he said speaking at his Chrysalis Building residence at upscale Juhu.
When asked whether he would consider a compromise if approached by Saif as the offense under which the actor had been charged was compoundable, Sharma said," We have not been approached by Saif or anybody. It is too late for a compromise or apology. He should have apologized to Daddy then. This is not how you behave with a senior citizen. Now it is too late."
Asked if Saif and his friends were under the influence of alcohol, his father-in-law, who identified himself only as Patel, said," I cannot say but they were very rowdy."
"This is no way to behave in a place like the Taj, in a restaurant like Wasabi. It is a Japanese restaurant, it is more of an exclusive place. Very few people go there. For them to behave in that manner is intolerable," he said.
On whether it was a drunken brawl, Sharma said,"We can't say they were drunk or intoxicated, but sober people don't behave like that."
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