An FIR has been registered against Saif and his friends under sections 325 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intent) of IPC. Cops are looking for him, but the actor is “unreachable”.

“His (Saif's) arrest is inevitable as it is a cognizable offence, but it is bailable,” Assistant Commisssioner of Police Iqbal Shaikh said, adding the actor can be enlarged on bail by the police and will not have to approach the court for it.

However, Saif will have to surrender and be arrested before the bail is granted.

“The section under which he has been booked is bailable. He has to come with a surety and if we find that the surety is a sound surety, we will grant him bail,” the ACP said.

The incident, according to the complaint registered with the Colaba police station, occurred just past midnight when the 41-year-old actor, along with his actress girlfriend Kareena Kapoor and other friends, was having dinner at Wasabi restaurant at Taj Hotel.

According to complainant Iqbal Sharma, a South African businessman of Indian origin, Saif and those accompanying him were talking loudly while seated at an adjacent table. When Sharma walked up to them and objected to their talking loudly, an argument ensued leading to a fracas during which he was assaulted by Saif, leaving him with a bleeding and fractured nose.

Shaikh said that the complainant went to the G T Hospital following the incident and then reported the matter to the police around 2.30 this morning.

Shaikh said a police team was dispatched to the actor's Bandra residence but he was not present there and his mobile phone was also switched off.

Asked if Saif was absconding, Shaikh said, “He is not reachable.”

He denied that any of the women accompanying either the actor or the complainant had participated in the scuffle.

On whether Saif had himself assaulted the complainant, Shaikh said, “This is what the complainant has said. We are in the process of recording the statements of independent witnesses.”

Saif was with Kareena, her sister Karisma, actor Arbaaz Khan's wife Malaika Arora Khan, her sister Amrita Arora and some other male friends, who are yet to be identified. The complainant was with his wife, mother, father and two others.