Salman Shah murder case: What to know

Nearly 29 years after the death of popular film actor Chowdhury Mohammad Shahriar, better known as Salman Shah, a murder case was filed against 11 people with Ramna Police Station on 21 October this year.

The case was filed by Mohammad Alamgir, Salman's maternal uncle, under sections 302 and 34 of the Penal Code. The accused are: Samira Haque, Aziz Mohammad Bhai, Latifa Haque Lusi, Ashraful Haque alias Don, David, Zaved, Faruk, Ruby, A Sattar, Saju, and Rijvi Ahmed Farhad.

A Dhaka court today (27 October) imposed a travel ban on two of the accused — Salman Shah's wife Samira Haque and film actor Ashraful Haque (Don) — in connection with the case over the actor's alleged premeditated murder in 1996.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Saifuzzaman passed the order after granting a plea filed by Investigation Officer (IO) and Ramna Police Station Inspector Atiqul Alam Khandaker on 22 October.

On 20 October, Dhaka's 6th Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge Md Jannatul Ferdous Ibn Haque directed the officer-in-charge of Ramna Police Station to treat the case over Salman Shah's "unnatural" death as a murder case and to submit a report accordingly. The court noted that the earlier unnatural death case had been cancelled and revoked by an order on 31 October 2021.

According to the case statement, on 6 September 1996, Salman's mother Nilufar Zaman Chowdhury (Neela), father Kamar Uddin Ahmed Chowdhury, and younger brother Shahraan Shah went to his New Eskaton residence to meet him.

They were informed by Salman's wife Samira and a domestic aide named Abul that he was asleep. At that time, film producer Siddique had also come to visit him. Hearing that Salman was resting, his parents said they would meet him later that day on their way to Sylhet.

Later, production manager Selim called Kamar Uddin Ahmed, saying something had happened to Salman and urged them to rush to his house. Upon arrival, they found Salman lying motionless in his bedroom, while some unknown women were rubbing oil on his hands and feet. In another room, Ruby, a relative of Samira who ran Mayfair Beauty Parlour, was sitting silently.

Salman's mother screamed and urged everyone to take her son to the hospital immediately, but one of Samira's acquaintances allegedly shouted, "You get out of my house."

His parents took him to Holy Family Hospital, where they noticed rope marks on his neck and that his face and legs had turned blue. Neela insisted they take him to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, where doctors declared him dead on arrival, saying he had died some time earlier.

Following the incident, Salman's father filed an unnatural death case, which he later sought to turn into a murder case through a petition submitted to the court on 24 July 1997 under Section 302 of the Penal Code.

In the fresh complaint, Alamgir stated, "As Salman's father — my brother-in-law — has passed away, I am pursuing the case on behalf of my sister under the power of attorney vested in me."