Actor Don sent to jail hours after arrest in Salman Shah murder case

A Dhaka court today (9 August) sent actor Mohammad Ashraful Haque, better known as Don, to jail in the murder case filed over the death of film star Salman Shah.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Md Jewel Rana passed the order this afternoon following a petition by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), said Omar Faruq Faruqi, a state counsel.

Earlier in the day, Don, 54, was arrested at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport while preparing to travel to Saudi Arabia for Umrah.

Kamrul Hasan, officer-in-charge of Airport Police Station, told The Business Standard that Don is subject to a travel ban in connection with the murder case.

After immigration authorities alerted the police, the CID took him into custody, he added.

Don was produced before the court around 2:45pm and kept at the CMM court lock-up before being brought to the courtroom around 5:05pm, according to court sources.

CID Inspector Arifur Rahman, the investigation officer in the case, produced Don before the court and sought to keep him in jail for the sake of the investigation.

During the hearing, state counsel Omar Faruq Faruqi said Don had been trying to leave the country and could go into hiding if granted bail.

He also referred to an earlier kidnapping case filed after Salman Shah's younger brother was allegedly abducted to intimidate the family and prevent them from pursuing a case over the actor's death.

Faruqi said Rizvi Ahmed alias Farhad, who is also an accused in the Salman Shah murder case, was arrested in that kidnapping case and later gave a confessional statement.

According to the prosecutor, the statement contained details of how Salman Shah was allegedly killed.

Rizvi was sentenced to two years in prison in the kidnapping case and, after serving the sentence, has remained absconding, Faruqi said.

In the petition seeking Don's detention, the investigation officer referred to the case statement and alleges that Don, along with the other named accused and unidentified people, acted in concert to kill Salman Shah.

The investigation is still ongoing, he added.

The petition also stated that Don had been absconding for a long time and that investigators were in the process of questioning him in custody.

It argued that if granted bail, he could obstruct the investigation or go into hiding permanently, and opposed his release.

No lawyer appeared for Don during the hearing. After hearing the prosecution, the court ordered that he be sent to jail.

On 6 September 1996, Salman Shah died at his residence in the capital's Eskaton. His death was initially treated as a suicide, but a murder case was filed on 20 October 2025.

Mohammad Alamgir Kumkum, maternal uncle of Salman Shah, filed the case with Ramna Police Station on behalf of Salman's mother, Neela Chowdhury, naming 11 people, including Salman's former wife Samira Haque.

The other accused are Samira Haque's mother, Latifa Haque Lucy; businessman Aziz Mohammad Bhai; actors Don and David; Javed, Faruk, Ruby, Abdul Sattar, Saju, and Rezvi Ahmed alias Farhad.