Court cancels exhumation order of actor Salman Shah’s remains

A Dhaka court on Tuesday cancelled the permission to exhume actor Salman Shah’s remains following a petition filed by the complainant’s side.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Jewel Rana passed the order cancellation after complainant Alamgir Kumkum filed a petition.

Earlier, on 24 May, the court had allowed a police petition to exhume the late actor Salman Shah’s remains in order to prepare an inquest report and conduct a fresh autopsy. However, that process has now been cancelled.

Confirming the development, the complainant’s lawyer, Advocate Abid Hasan, said that exhuming of Salman Shah’s remains would hurt religious sentiments.

“Nothing is likely to be found by exhuming a body after 30 years. Such a move may unnecessarily trigger unrest at the shrine of Hazrat Shahjalal (RA),” he said.

According to the petition, the body of the late popular film actor Salman Shah was buried in the premises of the shrine of Hazrat Shahjalal (RA), where his grave remains to this day.

It argued that exhuming the victim’s body could offend religious sentiments and create significant obstacles, adding that repeated attempts to exhume the body might hurt religious feelings, cause widespread disruption and potentially lead to clashes.

The petition also stated that the complainant, Md Alamgir Kumkum, and Salman Shah’s mother, Nilufa Zaman Chowdhury, had strongly objected to the exhumation. Therefore, it sought the revocation of the exhumation order.

Earlier, on 20 October 2025, Dhaka’s 6th Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge’s Court ordered the filing of a fresh case nearly 29 years after the actor’s death.

The court also directed Ramna Model Police Station to submit an investigation report. On the same night, Salman Shah’s maternal uncle, Md Alamgir Kumkum, filed the case with the police station.

Salman Shah’s wife, businessman Aziz Mohammad Bhai, Latifa Haque Lucy, film actor Don, David, Javed, Faruk, Rubi, Abdus Sattar, Saju and Rezvi Ahmed were named as accused in the case.

On 6 September 1996, Salman Shah’s body was recovered from his residence in Eskaton, Dhaka. His father, Komoruddin Ahmed Chowdhury, initially filed an unnatural death case.

Later, on 24 July 1997, a petition was filed seeking to convert the case into a murder case. The court then directed the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to investigate the matter.

On 3 November 1997, the CID submitted its final report to the court, concluding that the death was a suicide. The report was accepted by a Dhaka court on 25 November of the same year.

However, Komoruddin Ahmed Chowdhury filed a revision petition challenging the report. On 19 May 2003, the court ordered a judicial inquiry into the case.