Court Reinstates Permission to Exhume Salman Shah's Remains After Revocation
Famous actor Salman Shah whose death remains contrversial. Collected photo.
A Dhaka court had initially revoked the permission to exhume the remains of film actor Salman Shah from his grave. However, that order has now been reinstated. On Tuesday, Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Jewel Rana first issued an order canceling the exhumation application following a petition by the plaintiff. Moments later, the order was revised, stating that the application had been recorded (lodged) instead.
As a result, the earlier order allowing the exhumation of Salman Shah's body remains in effect. This has infuriated the plaintiff in the case, Mohammad Alamgir Kumkum.
Expressing his anger over the matter, the plaintiff's lawyer, Abid Hasan, said: "In open court this morning, the magistrate canceled the order for exhuming Salman Shah's remains. But by noon, I heard that the order had allegedly been recorded. I cannot understand this. There should be more transparency in all judicial proceedings. The order was announced in open court before the judge. There is no room for such an error in front of a judge. I cannot comprehend how this happened."
Salman Shah's maternal uncle and the plaintiff, Alamgir Kumkum, stated: "When I stood in the dock and submitted the application, the court said 'accepted.' I heard it with my own ears. But suddenly I hear that it has been recorded. How is this possible?"
Regarding the matter, Sub-Inspector Shah Alam of the Prosecution Division said: "One of our police officers announced the wrong order in open court. In reality, the court had recorded the application."
Earlier in the day, plaintiff Mohammad Alamgir Kumkum, through his lawyer Abid Hasan, had applied to cancel the permission for exhumation. The application stated that the case has been ongoing for over 30 years. Due to natural causes, the possibility of recovering Salman's remains is extremely slim. On January 13, 1997, when the victim's body was exhumed following a court order, it was found in a highly decomposed state.
The application further stated that Salman Shah's body had been buried in the premises of the shrine of Hazrat Shahjalal (Rah.) in Sylhet, and his grave remains there to this day. Therefore, repeatedly exhuming the victim's body would hurt religious sentiments and could create widespread obstacles and public unrest. There is also a high possibility of conflict. The plaintiff, Mohammad Alamgir Kumkum, and the informant, Neela Chowdhury, have strong objections. Hence, it was necessary to cancel the order for exhuming Salman's body. After hearing arguments, the court granted the application.
Earlier, on May 20, the investigating officer of the case, Inspector Ziaul Morshed from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of police, had applied for permission to exhume the body. On May 24, the court granted that application, ordering the exhumation, preparation of the inquest report, and autopsy in the presence of an Executive Magistrate.
On October 20 last year, the court ordered that the unnatural death case filed over Salman Shah's death be treated as a murder case. Following this directive, that very night at midnight, Mohammad Alamgir Kumkum—on behalf of Salman Shah's mother, Neela Chowdhury—filed a murder case as the plaintiff. The case named 11 individuals as accused, including his ex-wife Samira Haque and villain actor Don.
The other accused in the case are Samira Haque's mother, Latifa Haque Luchi; businessman Aziz Mohammad Bhai; Latifa Haque Luchi (again listed in the source); villain Don; Debit; Javed; Faruk; Ruby; A. Sattar; Saju; and Rezvi Ahmed, also known as Farhad.
On September 6, 1996, Salman Shah's body was recovered from his residence in Eskaton, Dhaka. At that time, his father, Kamaruddin Ahmed Chowdhury, initially filed an unnatural death case. Later, on July 24, 1997, an application was made to convert the complaint into a murder case. The court ordered the CID to investigate the matter. Upon concluding their investigation, the CID submitted a final report to the court on November 3, 1997, describing the incident as a suicide. Subsequently, on November 25 of that year, the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Court of Dhaka accepted that final report. However, Kamaruddin Ahmed Chowdhury filed a revision petition challenging the report. Later, on May 19, 2003, the court sent the case for a judicial inquiry.
After a long 11 years, on August 3, 2014, Metropolitan Magistrate Imdadul Haque submitted the judicial inquiry report to the court. This report also deemed Salman Shah's death as an unnatural death. Following Kamaruddin Ahmed Chowdhury's death, his mother, Neela Chowdhury, was included as the plaintiff in the case concerning her son's murder. On February 10, 2015, she filed a petition of discontent against the judicial inquiry report in the Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Court. Ultimately, the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) investigated the case. On October 31, 2021, the court accepted that PBI report and disposed of the case. On June 12, 2022, a revision petition was filed against this order in the Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge Court.
