Staff Reporter :
A Dhaka court has postponed the hearing of a revision petition filed by the mother of late film star Chowdhury Mohammad Shahriar Emon, popularly known as Salman Shah, until 13 October.
The decision came after a hearing on Tuesday (23 September) at the court of Dhaka’s 6th Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge, Md Jannatul Ferdous Ibn Haque.
According to the petition, senior lawyer Farooq Ahmad, who is representing the case, could not appear as he is currently engaged in witness examination at International Crimes Tribunal-2. As a result, the petitioner sought additional time for the proceedings.
Speaking to the media on the court premises, Salman Shah’s uncle Alamgir Kumkum raised questions over the initial investigation into the actor’s death.
“When someone dies in a family, police usually interrogate relatives and make arrests.
But in Salman Shah’s case, none of this happened,” he said. “His body was taken down, bathed, and dressed before his mother was even informed. There is a mystery behind all of this.” He demanded that the real perpetrators be identified and held accountable.
Nearly three decades after Salman Shah’s untimely death, suspicions and controversies remain.
On 6 September 1996, the actor’s body was found at his Eskaton residence in Dhaka. His father, Kamaruddin Ahmed Chowdhury, initially filed an unnatural death case, later seeking its conversion into a murder case.
Following the request, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) investigated the matter and, in November 1997, concluded that Salman had died by suicide.
The court accepted the report, but Kamaruddin rejected it and filed a revision petition.
In May 2003, the court ordered a judicial inquiry, and in August 2014, Magistrate Imdadul Haque submitted a report describing the death as unnatural.
After Kamaruddin’s passing, his wife, Neela Chowdhury, took over as plaintiff and filed a no-confidence petition against the report in 2015.
The case was subsequently handed over to the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI), which submitted its findings in October 2021.
The court accepted the PBI report and ordered case disposal. However, Neela challenged the order in June 2022 by filing a revision petition, which remains under consideration.
Salman Shah, born on 19 September 1971 in Sylhet, died on 6 September 1996 at the age of 24, leaving behind an enduring legacy in Bangladeshi cinema.
