A Dhaka court has ordered Ramna Police to register a murder case over the death of popular film actor Mohammad Shahriar Emon, widely known as Salman Shah, nearly three decades after his mysterious demise.
The directive came on Monday (October 20) as the court of Dhaka’s Sixth Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge Md Jannatul Ferdous Ibne Haque granted a revision petition filed by Salman Shah’s mother, Neela Chowdhury.
The court also ordered the officer-in-charge of Ramna Police Station to reinvestigate the case and submit a report.
The judge instructed police to file the case by incorporating the complaint lodged by Salman’s late father, Kamar Uddin Ahmed Chowdhury, along with the confessional statement of Rizvi Ahmed alias Farhad—an accused who allegedly detailed how the actor was killed.
Lawyer Abid Hasan, representing the plaintiff, said that following Salman’s death on September 6, 1996, his father initially filed an unnatural death case with Ramna Police. A year later, he appealed to have it turned into a murder case, but the request was dismissed. Despite a confessional statement from accused Rizvi Ahmed admitting to the killing, the case never advanced.
After multiple investigations—including by the CID, a judicial inquiry, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), and finally the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI)—the matter appeared closed. The PBI’s 2020 final report concluded that Salman Shah had died by suicide due to family disputes. The court accepted that report in October 2021 and dismissed the case.
Challenging that decision, Salman’s mother filed a revision petition through her lawyer, which the Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge’s Court accepted in June 2022. On Monday, the Sixth Additional Sessions Judge overturned the previous dismissal, voided the PBI’s final report, and ordered the filing of a murder case for fresh investigation.
Salman Shah, one of Bangladesh’s most celebrated film stars of the 1990s, was found dead at his Dhaka residence on September 6, 1996. His death sparked widespread speculation, with family members and fans long alleging that he was murdered rather than taking his own life.
FP/MI
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