Plaintiff’s lawyer, Abid Hasan, said the application argued that exhuming the body after three decades could hurt religious sentiments and create public disorder.
Salman Shah. Photo: Collected
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Salman Shah. Photo: Collected
A Dhaka court today (23 June) cancelled an earlier order to exhume the body of film actor Salman Shah, nearly 30 years after his death.
Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Md Jewel Rana passed the order after hearing an application filed by the complainant in the case, Mohammad Alamgir Kumkum, seeking cancellation of the exhumation order.
Lawyer for the complainant, Abid Hasan, confirmed the development.
He said the application argued that exhuming the body after three decades could hurt religious sentiments and create public disorder.
“After 30 years, no meaningful evidence is likely to be recovered by exhuming the body. It could also create unnecessary tensions around the shrine of Hazrat Shahjalal (R). For these reasons, we filed the application seeking cancellation of the exhumation order,” he said.
Notably, Salman Shah was buried in the premises of the Hazrat Shahjalal (R) shrine and remains buried there.
The application states that exhumation could offend religious sentiments, face significant public resistance, and potentially lead to clashes.
The application also noted that the complainant, Kumkum and the actor’s mother, Nilufar Zaman Chowdhury, also known as Neela Chowdhury, objected to the exhumation.
After hearing the matter, the court allowed the application and cancelled the earlier order.
Earlier, on 24 May, a Dhaka court granted permission to the authorities concerned to exhume Salman Shah’s body to determine the cause of his death following an application by the investigating officer of the case.
Nearly 29 years after the death of actor Chowdhury Mohammad Shahriar (Emon), popularly known as Salman Shah, the case was filed against 11 people at Ramna Police Station on 20 October 2025.
Salman’s maternal uncle, Mohammad Alamgir Kumkum, on behalf of Salman’s mother Neela Chowdhury, filed the case.
After accepting the First Information Report, the court directed Inspector Atiqul Islam Khandaker to submit the investigation report on 7 December.
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.
According to the case statement, on 6 September 1996, Salman Shah’s mother Neela Chowdhury, his father (now late) Kamar Uddin Ahmed Chowdhury, and their younger son Shahraan Shah went to Salman’s New Eskaton residence to meet him.
Upon their arrival, Samira and a domestic aide named Abul informed them that Salman was sleeping. Film producer Siddique had also gone to meet him. Hearing that their son was asleep, his parents told Samira they would meet him on their way to Sylhet.
Later that day, production manager Selim phoned Kamar Uddin Ahmed Chowdhury, saying something had happened to Salman and asking them to come to his house immediately.
When the family reached the residence, they found Salman lying motionless in his bedroom while several unknown women were rubbing oil on his hands and feet.
Salman’s parents then rushed him towards Holy Family Hospital, where they noticed rope marks on his neck and a bluish tint to his face and legs.
His mother insisted on taking him to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, where doctors declared him dead on arrival, saying he had died some time earlier.
Following the incident, Kamar Uddin Ahmed Chowdhury initially filed an unnatural death case.
The following year, on 24 July 1997, he filed a petition with the court, bringing murder allegations and seeking to register the case under Section 302 of the Penal Code.
In October 2021, a Dhaka court accepted a Police Bureau of Investigation probe report in the case over actor Salman Shah’s death, where it is mentioned that the actor had died by suicide due to a family feud.
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