Salman Shah murder accused Don sent to jail

The court has ordered Ashraful Haque Don, an accused named in the First Information Report (FIR) of the Salman Shah murder case, to be sent to jail.

After the hearing on Sunday afternoon, Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Jewel Rana granted the petition of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and ordered him to be sent to jail.

Earlier on Sunday, around 5am, immigration authorities at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport detained Ashraful Haque Don. He was later produced before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court in Dhaka. After being kept in the court lock-up, he was produced before the court in the afternoon.

The CID applied to keep Don in jail custody, expressing concern that releasing him on bail would hamper the investigation and that he might flee again.

The CID report submitted to the court stated that Ashraful Haque Don had been on the run for a long time. He was being interrogated regarding the case under police custody. The investigating agency feared that if released on bail, the investigation process would be disrupted and he might go into hiding again.

Dhaka Metropolitan Court Public Prosecutor Omar Faruk Faruki confirmed the matter.

The case FIR alleged that on September 6, 1996, actor Chowdhury Mohammad Shahriar Emon, also known as Salman Shah, was killed through a pre-planned conspiracy involving the other accused named in the FIR and unidentified individuals.

The investigation of the case is currently being conducted by the CID. The deadline for submitting the investigation report has already been deferred eight times. The court has set the next date for submitting the report as August 30.