The flat in Dhaka’s Eskaton still stands. Salman Shah does not.
Thirty years after Bangladesh’s beloved film star was found dead there on 6 September 1996, one question refuses to disappear: what really happened that day?
Salman Shah, whose real name was Chowdhury Mohammad Shahriar Emon, was only 25. His father, Kamaruddin Ahmed Chowdhury, rejected the suicide theory and approached the court on 24 July 1997 seeking a murder investigation.
The case would stretch across decades. The CID concluded that Salman Shah died by suicide, while a judicial inquiry described his death as accidental. The family rejected both findings.
In February 2020, the PBI submitted a 600-page report concluding that Salman Shah had not been murdered and had died by suicide. Investigators said they questioned 44 people and recorded 10 statements under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. His mother, Neela Chowdhury, rejected the report. A Dhaka court accepted it in October 2021 after rejecting a no-confidence petition.
Then, almost 29 years after Salman Shah’s death, the case turned again.
On 20 October 2025, Dhaka’s Sixth Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge Md Jannatul Ferdous Ibn Haque ordered the case to be treated as a murder case under Sections 302 and 34 of the Penal Code. The next day, Salman’s maternal uncle Mohammad Alamgir Kumkum filed a murder case at Ramna Police Station.
Eleven people were named accused: former wife Samira Huq, businessman Aziz Mohammad Bhai, Samira’s mother Latifa Haque Lucy, actor Don, David, Javed, Faruk, Ruby, A. Sattar, Saju and Rezvi Ahmed alias Farhad. The allegations remain unproven.
The reopened case also revived Rezvi’s old testimony. Then a Salman Shah fan, he had given a confession allegedly implicating several people before withdrawing it and claiming he had been beaten and compelled to confess. His statement was later included in the new murder proceedings.
Investigators also turned to Salman’s grave. CID Inspector Ziaul Morshed sought permission for an exhumation and fresh inquest and autopsy. A Dhaka court approved the request in May 2026, but the order later faced a cancellation petition.
Then came another dramatic turn.
Don was arrested at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on 9 August while preparing to travel to Saudi Arabia. On 27 August, a Dhaka court placed him on five-day remand.
Meanwhile, the investigation report deadline was pushed again. Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Jewel Rana fixed 29 September 2026 — the ninth extension.
Thirty years on, the mystery remains.
Was Salman Shah’s death suicide, as earlier investigations concluded, or murder, as his family maintains?
The courts have yet to deliver the final answer.
For millions of fans, Salman Shah remains forever young, charismatic and alive on the silver screen.
But behind that enduring image lies one question that time has failed to silence: What happened to Salman Shah on 6 September 1996?
Don arrested, but where are the other 10?
Mohammad Ashraful Haque Don is now behind bars. But the arrest has opened another question in the Salman Shah murder case: where are the other 10 accused?
According to information available to TIMES of Bangladesh, Salman Shah’s former wife Samira Huq was in the country until the murder case was filed. She appeared in court on 13 October 2025. After the court ordered the unnatural death case to be registered as a murder case on 20 October, sources said she went into hiding. Her current whereabouts remain unknown.
Samira’s mother, Latifa Haque Lucy, also became untraceable after the murder case was filed.
Businessman Aziz Mohammad Bhai, identified in the case as the owner of Olympic Industries, has reportedly been living abroad for a long time, according to responsible sources.
For David, Javed and Faruk, the case lists Bangladesh Film Development Corporation (BFDC) in the capital as their address. Investigators, however, have yet to establish where they are now.
Police have also been unable to confirm the whereabouts of Ruby, A Sattar and Saju.
Rezvi Ahmed alias Farhad, whose address in the case is listed as Faridpur, is reportedly living in London.
The 11 accused named in the case are Samira Haque, Aziz Mohammad Bhai, Latifa Haque Lucy, Don, David, Javed, Faruk, Ruby, A Sattar, Saju and Rezvi Ahmed alias Farhad.
