SALMAN Rushdie, the Mumbai-born controversial author who faced Islamist death threats after writing ‘The Satanic Verses’, was attacked and suffered an apparent stab wound to the neck when a man stormed the stage during an event here on Friday while he was getting ready to deliver a lecture, New York Police said.

Rushdie, 75, who won the Booker Prize for his novel ‘Midnight’s Children’, was stabbed by a man on stage while he was being introduced at the event of the Chautauqua Institution in Western New York.

He fell through a barrier to the stage and was seen with blood on his hands. The audience tackled the attacker and Rushdie was then treated onstage following the assault.

“State Police are investigating an attack on author Salman Rushdie prior to a speaking event at the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, NY. On August 12, 2022, at about 11 a.m., a male suspect ran up onto the stage and attacked Rushdie and an interviewer,” New York Police said in a statement. “Rushdie suffered an apparent stab wound to the neck, and was transported by helicopter to an area hospital. His condition is not yet known. The interviewer suffered a minor head injury,” it said.