Source: BSS
DST News: A Dhaka court today directed the officer-in-charge of Ramna Police Station to treat the case concerning the death of Bangla film icon Salman Shah as a murder case and submit a report accordingly.
The order was issued by Dhaka’s 6th Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge Md Jannatul Ibn Haque after accepting a revision petition filed by the complainant.
In its ruling, the court stated that the earlier classification of the case as an unnatural death is nullified and revoked as per an order dated October 31, 2021.
“Therefore, the unnatural death case filed by the original informant, Kamar Uddin Ahmed Chowdhury (the victim’s father), along with his petition submitted to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court, Dhaka, on July 24, 1997, and the confessional statement of Rizvi alias Farhad, are to be treated collectively as a First Information Report (FIR) under Sections 302/34 of the Penal Code. The Officer-in-Charge of Ramna Police Station is instructed to register the case and submit a police report,” the order read.
Salman Shah, whose real name was Chowdhury Mohammad Shahriar (Emon), passed away on September 6, 1996. After his death, his father filed an unnatural death case. On July 24, 1997, he filed another petition alleging murder and requested that the case be recorded under Section 302 of the Penal Code.
Following this, the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Court of Dhaka instructed the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to investigate both the unnatural death and murder allegations. The CID later submitted its final report on November 3, 1997, terming the incident a suicide.
The CMM Court accepted the CID’s findings on November 25, 1997, but Salman’s father rejected the report and filed a revision case.
Subsequently, on May 19, 2003, the court ordered a judicial inquiry. After nearly 11 years, on August 3, 2014, Metropolitan Magistrate Imdadul Haque submitted his report, again identifying Salman Shah’s death as an unnatural death. Following the death of Kamar Uddin Ahmed Chowdhury, Salman’s mother, Nila Chowdhury, was made the complainant in the murder case.
On February 10, 2015, Nila Chowdhury filed a naraji (no-confidence) petition challenging the judicial investigation report. The Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) was then assigned to conduct a new inquiry.
PBI Inspector Sirajul Islam submitted the final report on February 25, 2020. The court accepted this report and closed the case on October 31, 2021. However, on June 12, 2022, filmmaker Alamgir Kumkum filed an appeal on behalf of Nila Chowdhury with the Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge’s Court, contesting the lower court’s decision.
