Court orders murder case over actor Salman Shah's death after 29 years
A Dhaka court has ordered the filing of a murder case in connection with the death of renowned Bangladeshi film actor Chowdhury Mohammad Shahriar (Emon), popularly known as Salman Shah.
Dhaka's sixth Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge Md Jannatul Ferdous Ibne Haque passed the order today (20 October), according to state prosecutor Mohammad Habibur Rahman.
The court also granted a revision petition filed by Salman's mother regarding the case over her son's death.
The court accepted the new revision based on two sources of appeal, he added.
He said the court granted the revision petition filed by Salman Shah's mother, Neela Chowdhury, directing Ramna Police Station's officer-in-charge to submit an investigation report again on the case.
The death of the legendary Bangladeshi film actor remains shrouded in mystery 29 years later.
On 6 September 1996, the actor was found dead at his home, with investigations repeatedly concluding his death was a suicide, a finding his family and fans have consistently rejected, claiming he was murdered.
Following his death, Salman Shah's father, the late Kamaruddin Ahmed Chowdhury, filed an unnatural death case with the Ramna Police Station on that fateful day.
However, less than a year later, in July 1997, he filed a plea to convert the case into a murder case, arguing his son had been killed.
Over the years, the case has gone through several investigations by different agencies. The Criminal Investigation Department (CID), in a final report submitted on 3 November 1997, concluded that it was a suicide, a finding that was accepted by the court.
However, his father rejected the report and filed a revision petition.
The mourning father passed away in 2002, without ever knowing the truth about his son's death but the case was then sent for a second judicial investigation, which, after 11 years, also concluded it was a suicide.
On 3 August 2014, a Metropolitan Magistrate, Emdadul Haque, submitted a judicial inquiry report to the then Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Bikash Kumar Saha.
The report mentioned Salman Shah's death as an unnatural one. Salman Shah's mother Neela Chowdhury rejected this report.
On 10 February 2015, Neela filed an objection in the court of then Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Jahangir Hossain, accusing 11 people, including Salman Shah's wife Samira Haq, Aziz Mohammad Bhai, Rizvi Ahmed alias Farhad, Nazrul Sheikh Samira Haque, Latifa Haque Lucy, David, Ashraful Haque Don, Rabeya Sultana Ruby, Mostaq Waid, Abul Hossain Khan and Monowara Begum, of being involved in her son's murder.
Born on Sep 19, 1971, in Dariapara, Sylhet, Salman's dazzling four-year career in the early 1990s made him one of Bangladesh's most beloved screen icons before his untimely death in 1996.