Court permits exhumation of Salman Shah's body to determine true cause of death

A Dhaka court has granted permission to the authorities concerned to exhume the body of film actor Salman Shah to determine the true cause of his death.

Metropolitan Magistrate Jewel Rana issued the order on 24 May, following an application by the investigating officer, but the matter came to light today (10 June).

Shah Alam, sub-inspector of the Dhaka Metropolitan Prosecution Department, confirmed the development while talking to The Business Standard.

The case's investigating officer and CID Police Inspector Md Ziaul Morshed, on 20 May, applied to the court seeking permission to exhume the body, prepare a pre-exhumation inquest report, conduct a fresh autopsy, and appoint an executive magistrate for the purpose.

In his application, he noted that a murder case had been filed at Ramna Police Station on court orders 29 years after the incident, and a fresh post-mortem examination was essential for a proper investigation. The court subsequently granted his plea.

Salman Shah's body was recovered from his flat at Eskaton Plaza, 11/B, New Eskaton Road, on 6 September 1996.

His family members arrived at the flat after receiving an urgent phone call around 11:30am and found him lying motionless on his bed. He was rushed to Holy Family Red Crescent Medical College Hospital. From there, he was referred to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, where doctors declared him dead. 

He was later buried at the graveyard within the premises of Hazrat Shahjalal's shrine in Sylhet following an autopsy.

An unnatural death case was filed at Ramna Police Station the same day by his father, Kamar Uddin Ahmed Chowdhury.

In July 1997, the family applied to convert the unnatural death case into a murder case. 

The court directed CID to investigate, and in November 1997, CID submitted its final report, concluding that the death was a suicide. 

The report was accepted by the Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court in November that year, but Kamar Uddin filed a revision case rejecting its findings.

In May 2003, the court sent the matter for judicial inquiry. After 11 years, Metropolitan Magistrate Imdadul Haque submitted the judicial inquiry report in August 2014, again recording the death as unnatural.

Following Kamar Uddin's death, his wife Neela Chowdhury was included as the complainant, and in February 2015, she filed an objection against the judicial inquiry report at the Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Court. 

The case was subsequently investigated by the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI), and in October 2021, the court accepted that report and disposed of the case. 

A revision case against that order was filed at the Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge Court in June 2022.

On 20 October last year, the court directed that the unnatural death case be converted into a murder case. Salman's maternal uncle Mohammad Alamgir Kumkum, on behalf of Neela Chowdhury, filed the case.

The accused are: Salman Shah's wife Samira Haque, her mother Latifa Haque Lusi, actor Ashraful Haque alias Don, businessman Aziz Mohammad Bhai, David, Zaved, Faruk, Ruby, A Sattar, Saju and Rijvi Ahmed Farhad.