Mysuru: Stabbed Sait goes through 5-hr surgery

Mysuru: Senior Congress leader and former minister, Tanveer Sait, who was stabbed in the neck multiple times by a 25- year- old man at a wedding late Sunday evening in Mysuru, is responding to treatment at the Columbia Asia hospital, where he was rushed following the attack.

According to Dr Upendra Shenoy of the hospital, Mr Sait had suffered serious injury to the blood vessels and nerves in his neck and was operated on by a multi- disciplinary team of doctors in an operation that lasted for five hours. "The bleeding is now under control and he is on drugs to maintain his blood pressure. He was given blood as he had lost a lot of it and has been removed from the ventilator.  He is responding to treatment and is being monitored closely in the ICU," the doctor said.

Mysuru city police commissioner, K.T. Balakrishna, said Mr Sait's attacker, who has been identified as Farhaan , a handicraftsman and carpenter from  Ghousianagar, was caught by the people at the wedding and handed over to the police after he tripped and fell while trying  to run away. "He has no criminal record and the investigation is on," he added.

The Congress leader was seated in the front row at a concert following dinner at the wedding of his friend, Syed Yunus's son at  around  11.20 pm Sunday night when he was stabbed multiple times, damaging his nerves and his ear, according to the  complaint lodged at the local police station.

A guest at the wedding at the Bannnimantapa grounds, Abijaan, who was seated near him, said Mr Sait had arrived at 9pm and a couple of hours later when a singer was performing on stage, his attacker wearing a red shirt approached him from the right and swiftly stabbed the Narasimharaja assembly MLA in the neck. "He then ran towards the left. When he first approached we thought he was coming to take Mr Sait's blessings," he recounted. The incident was accidentally caught on video as a guest was recording  the musical performance and has since gone viral.

Former Chief minister Siddaramaiah and Mysuru district minister, V Somanna visited the hospital and spoke to the doctors about Mr Sait's condition. Mr Sommana said the government was prepared to  airlift the Congress leader to Bengaluru, Delhi or Mumbai for better treatment if need be and bear all the expenses. "Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa is keeping track of his condition and a special team led by DCP Muthuraj is investigating the case. We know the motive behind the attack, but  it cannot be revealed at the moment," he added.

Mysuru District Congress president, B J Vijaykumar, demanded a judicial inquiry into the incident, saying that it was shocking that  a progressive thinker  like Mr Sati had been attacked in this manner. Mysuru Kodagu MP, Pratap Simha, MLAs Nagendra, and several Congress leaders too visited the hospital to  inquire about Mr  Sait's condition. As a large crowd gathered outside, moulvis(priests) from different mosques of Mysuru arrived at the hospital and prayed for his recovery.