A man wrongly detained from Chhattisgarh’s Durg district on suspicion of having attacked actor Saif Ali Khan has lost his job and a marriage proposal because of the police action, PTI reported on Sunday.

The Railway Protection Force had detained 31-year-old Akash Kanojia on the Mumbai-Kolkata Jnaneshwari Express on January 18, acting on a tip-off from the Mumbai Police. Kanojia was en route to Bilaspur to meet a prospective bride when he was detained.

“The Railway Protection Force personnel not only apprehended me, they also issued a press release with my photograph, which was shown widely by television channels and media outlets,” Kanojia was quoted as saying by the Hindustan Times. “As a result, the bride’s family cancelled the meeting with me and my employer terminated my services.”

Kanojia told the newspaper that he previously worked as a driver for a tour company that partnered with the Western Railway in Mumbai. On January 17, he received a call from the Mumbai Police inquiring about his location. The officer hung up after being informing that he was at home. The following day, he was detained while traveling on the train.

The 31-year-old said that he asked the police to review the security camera footage from near his house to prove his innocence, but they allegedly took no action. Kanojia also claimed that he was assaulted by the police when he was taken to Raipur.

“One mistake of the Mumbai Police ruined my life,” Kanojia told PTI. “They failed to notice I had a moustache and the person in the CCTV grab from the actor’s building did not.”

Kanojia said that he should not be treated as a suspect simply because of two unrelated pending cases against him. “I plan to stand outside Saif Ali Khan’s building and seek a job as I have lost everything because of what happened to him,” he added.

He was released after the Mumbai Police arrested Mohammad Shariful Islam Shehzad on January 19 as a suspect in the case.

The Mumbai Police, upon releasing Kanojia, stated that it had never concluded that he was the assailant and that he was only a suspect. Sub Inspector Pradeep Funde instead blamed the media for widely sharing Kanojia’s identifiable details, ANI reported.

An unidentified person had entered Khan’s home between 2 am and 2.30 am on January 16 and had an altercation with the actor’s domestic worker. When Khan tried to intervene, he was attacked with a knife. The domestic worker was also injured.

The suspect fled after the attack.

The actor was taken to Lilavati Hospital in Bandra at 3.30 am. He sustained three serious injuries on his neck, back and waist. Doctors later said he was out of danger.

Khan was discharged from the hospital on January 21.