Salman Shah Murder Case: Actor Don Arrested at Airport

Police have arrested film actor Ashraful Haque, popularly known as Don, in connection with the murder case filed over the death of celebrated Bangladeshi actor Salman Shah.

Airport Police Station Officer-in-Charge Kamrul Hasan Talukdar confirmed the arrest on Sunday, 9 August. According to him, immigration police initially detained Don in the airport area. A team of the Criminal Investigation Department subsequently took him into its custody as the case is currently being investigated by the CID.

The arrest marks a fresh development in one of Bangladesh’s most closely followed and controversial cases involving a prominent figure from the country’s film industry. Salman Shah, whose real name was Chowdhury Mohammad Shahriar Emon, was found dead at his residence in Eskaton, Dhaka, on 6 September 1996, at the height of his acting career. His death has remained the subject of public debate for nearly three decades.

For years, several investigations examined the circumstances surrounding the actor’s death. Earlier investigative findings concluded that Salman Shah had died by suicide. The Police Bureau of Investigation also maintained in its report that the death was suicide. Salman Shah’s family, however, repeatedly rejected that conclusion and continued to demand a fresh examination of the circumstances surrounding his death.

The legal course of the case changed significantly in October 2025, when a Dhaka court ordered that the matter be treated as a murder case. Salman Shah’s maternal uncle, Mohammad Alamgir, subsequently filed a murder case with Ramna Police Station on 21 October 2025. Eleven people were named as accused, including Salman Shah’s former wife Samira Haque, businessman Aziz Mohammad Bhai, actor Don and several others.

The court later imposed a travel ban on Samira Haque and Don in connection with the case.

The investigation has since been transferred to the CID. The agency has been examining the allegations and evidence afresh as part of the murder case. The latest available court development is that the submission of the investigation report has been deferred several times. A Dhaka court most recently set 30 August 2026 as the deadline for submitting the report after the investigating officer failed to file it on the scheduled date in July.

Against this backdrop, Don’s arrest has drawn renewed attention to the long-running case. His detention does not, by itself, establish guilt, and the allegations against all accused remain subject to investigation and judicial proceedings.

The case has continued to attract intense public interest because of Salman Shah’s enduring popularity and the unresolved questions surrounding his death. The CID’s investigation and the eventual findings submitted to the court are expected to be crucial in determining whether the allegations of murder can be substantiated and what legal consequences, if any, may follow.