Don held in Salman’s murder case, sent to jail

Actor Kazi Hossain Don has been arrested and sent to jail in connection with the murder case of popular Bangladeshi actor Salman Shah.

Immigration police detained Don in the airport area on Sunday afternoon , and a team of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) later took him into custody, said Kamrul Hasan Talukder, officer-in-charge of Airport Police Station.

The Salman Shah murder case is currently being investigated by the CID.

Salman Shah, whose real name was Chowdhury Mohammad Shahriar Emon, died at his residence in New Eskaton, Dhaka, on September 6, 1996. His father, the late Komruddin Ahmed Chowdhury, initially filed an unnatural death case over his death.

On July 24, 1997, his father sought to have the case treated as a murder case, alleging that his son had been killed. The court later ordered the CID to investigate both the unnatural death and murder allegations.

The CID submitted its final report on November 3, 1997, concluding that Salman Shah had died by suicide. The Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court accepted the report on November 25 that year.

However, Salman Shah’s father challenged the report through a revision petition. After a lengthy legal process, the Sixth Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge of Dhaka, Mohammad Jannatul Ferdous Ibn Haque, allowed the revision on October 20, 2025, and ordered that the case be treated as a murder case.

The following day, Salman Shah’s maternal uncle Mohammad Alamgir filed a murder case with Ramna Police Station, naming 11 people, including Salman’s wife Samira Haque, as accused under Sections 302 and 34 of the Penal Code.

The other accused include businessman and former film producer Aziz Mohammad Bhai, Latifa Haque Luchi, actor Don, Debit, Javed, Faruk, Ruby of May-Fair Beauty Centre, Abdus Sattar, Saju and Rezvi Ahmed Farhad. Several unidentified people were also named in the case.

According to the case statement, Salman’s family members went to his New Eskaton residence on September 6, 1996, and initially learned that he was sleeping. Shortly afterwards, production manager Selim called and informed them that something had happened to Salman.

When they returned home, they found Salman lying motionless in his bedroom. The complaint alleges that several women were massaging his hands and feet, while Samira’s relative Ruby was sitting in an adjoining room.

The complaint further alleges that Salman had marks around his neck and bluish marks on his face and legs while he was being taken to hospital. He was taken to Holy Family Hospital and later to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, where doctors declared him dead.

The investigation into the case was revived nearly three decades after Salman Shah’s death.

On May 20 this year, the investigating officer sought permission to exhume Salman Shah’s remains in the presence of an executive magistrate to determine the actual cause of his death. The court granted permission on May 24 for the remains to be exhumed, followed by an inquest and post-mortem examination.

The complainant’s side later sought cancellation of the exhumation order, and the court recorded the application. On June 22, the court appointed Sylhet Additional District Magistrate Pinky Saha as executive magistrate to oversee the exhumation process.

The CID is scheduled to submit its investigation report on August 30.