Salman Shah murder case: Probe report deadline deferred again

The deadline for submitting the investigation report in the murder case over the death of film star Salman Shah has been deferred again, with a Dhaka court setting November 5 as the new date.

The report was scheduled to be submitted on Tuesday (September 29) before Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Jewel Rana. However, CID Inspector Ziaul Morshed, the investigating officer, failed to submit it, prompting the court to set a fresh deadline.

Salman Shah’s lawyer Abid Hasan confirmed the development.

The case accuses 11 people, including Salman Shah’s former wife Samira Haque, her mother Latifa Haque Lucy, actor Ashraful Haque Don and businessman and former film producer Aziz Mohammad Bhai. They have been accused under Sections 302 and 34 of the Penal Code.

Several unidentified people have also been named in the case.

As part of the fresh investigation, the CID had sought permission to exhume Salman Shah’s remains to examine the circumstances surrounding his death.

The court granted permission on May 24 for the remains to be exhumed, an inquest to be conducted and a post-mortem examination to be carried out in the presence of an executive magistrate.

A petition filed by the plaintiff’s side challenging the exhumation order was subsequently placed on record.

An executive magistrate was later appointed in June to oversee the process of exhuming the remains. The relevant administrative order was subsequently sent to the Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court and placed on record.

Salman Shah, whose real name was Chowdhury Mohammad Shahriar Emon, died at his Eskaton residence in Dhaka on September 6, 1996. His father, Kamaruddin Ahmed Chowdhury, initially filed an unnatural death case. In 1997, he sought to have it converted into a murder case, alleging that his son had been killed.

The CID’s 1997 investigation concluded that Salman Shah had died by suicide. Subsequent investigations, including a PBI probe that submitted its final report in 2020, also did not find evidence supporting the murder allegation.

Salman Shah’s family challenged those findings through successive legal proceedings.

Following a lengthy legal process, a Dhaka court in October 2025 ordered that the death be treated as a murder case and directed the filing and investigation of a fresh murder case.

The case was subsequently filed at Ramna Police Station against the 11 accused.