A Dhaka court has rejected the bail petition of film actor Ashraful Haque, known as Don, in the murder case of Salman Shah.
Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Mohammad Ehsanul Islam passed the order after a hearing on Wednesday.
Defence lawyer Md Tarikul Islam argued for bail, while Public Prosecutor Omar Faruk Faruki opposed it. After hearing both sides, the court rejected Don’s bail plea.
In the petition, the defence claimed Don is a popular figure in Bangladesh’s film industry, has no knowledge of the incident, and was implicated in the case to harass him.
He argued there is no specific allegation against Don in the FIR or arrest forwarding, and he was not involved in the incident.
Don was arrested early on 9 August at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka. Later that afternoon, CID
Inspector Arifur Rahman, the case’s investigation officer, produced him before the court and sought his detention. Then, the court sent him to jail.
Authorities said Don was under a travel ban due to the Salman Shah murder case. Immigration officials alerted CID, which then took him into custody. He was arrested while attempting to travel to Saudi Arabia for Umrah.
Salman Shah died on 6 September 1996 at his Eskaton residence in Dhaka. His death was initially described as suicide, but later a murder case was filed. Over time, several names have surfaced during the investigation.
On 20 October 2025, Salman Shah’s mother Neela Chowdhury filed a case with Ramna Police Station against Samira Haque and 10 others.
Other accused in the case include Samira’s mother Latifa Haque Lucy, businessman Aziz Mohammad Bhai, Don, David, Javed, Faruk, Ruby, Abdul Sattar, Saju, and Rezvi Ahmed alias Farhad.
