A Dhaka court has set August 30 for submitting probe report in a case lodged over the murder of the popular movie superstar Salman Shah.
Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Jewel Rana fixed the date after investigating officer (IO) CID Inspector Ziaul Morshed failed to submit the report on Thursday.
The development was confirmed by Prosecution Sub-Inspector Shah Alam.
The latest investigation has focused on determining the actual cause of the actor’s death through forensic re-examination. On 20 May, the IO sought court permission to exhume Salman Shah’s body in the presence of an executive magistrate, and the court approved the request on 24 May.
Although the plaintiff later applied to cancel the exhumation order, the court kept the petition on record.
On 22 June, Sylhet’s Additional District Magistrate Pinky Saha issued an office order appointing an executive magistrate to supervise the exhumation process in Sylhet. A copy of the order was later sent to the Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Court.
Salman Shah died on September 6, 1996. His father, late Kamaruddin Ahmed Chowdhury, initially filed an unnatural death case over the incident. However, on July 24, 1997, he sought to convert the case into a murder case.
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) submitted a final report on November 3, 1997, stating that the actor had died by suicide. Rejecting the findings, his father filed a revision petition.
After a lengthy legal battle, Judge Md Jannatul Ferdous Ibne Haque of the Sixth Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge’s Court allowed the revision petition on October 20 and ordered that the matter be treated as a murder case.
Following the order, Salman Shah’s uncle Mohammad Alamgir filed the murder case with Ramna Police Station on October 21 under sections 302/34 of the Penal Code.
The case names 11 people as accused, including Salman Shah’s wife Samira Haq, industrialist Aziz Mohammad Bhai, Samira’s mother Latifa Haq Lucy, and actor Ashraful Haq Don. The other accused are David, Javed, Faruq, Ruby of Mayfair Beauty Center, Abdus Sattar, Saju and Rezvi Ahmed Farhad.
According to the case statement, on the day of the incident, Salman Shah’s mother Nilufar Zaman Chowdhury (Neela Chowdhury), father and brother went to his New Eskaton residence but were told that he was asleep.
Later, production manager Selim informed them that something was wrong. Upon returning to the residence, they allegedly found Salman lying lifeless while several unidentified women were massaging his limbs.
The complainant also claimed that he noticed rope marks on Salman Shah’s neck and bluish bruises on his face and legs before the actor was declared dead at Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
Mohammad Alamgir has been pursuing the case on behalf of his sister since Salman Shah’s father’s death.
The court also noted that any accused persons found to have died would be excluded from the case upon submission of proof of death.
