Salman Shah's family has kept up a three-decade legal fight for justice, insisting the Dhakai cinema star's death was murder rather than suicide.

Family members have rejected the findings of four separate investigation agencies, all of which concluded the popular actor took his own life.

A fresh case has followed a revision petition against the suspects' discharge order, with actor Mohammad Ashraful Haque Don arrested from the airport on Friday.

But Salman Shah's mother, Neela Chowdhury, now in London, has questioned why the other suspects have not been arrested.

"I'm hoping the case investigation will conclude, that justice will be delivered," she told bdnews24.com.

"The accused are in the country, I don't understand why they aren't being arrested. Is it deliberate? They're barred from leaving the country, which means they're still here. So why aren't they being picked up?

"If the suspects are arrested and placed on remand, the whole mystery behind the murder will come out. I hope the investigation agency arrests them quickly and wraps up the case."

The case's plaintiff, Salman Shah's uncle Alamgir Kumkum, said the demand for justice went beyond the family. "It isn't just us, the entire country wants the Salman Shah murder case to reach a verdict."

"When Salman Shah was killed, Samira, Dolly, Monowar and Abul, the house help, were all present at the flat. Arresting them would bring everything out into the open,” he added. “Police can't locate Samira. Questioning her most recent ex-husband would reveal her whereabouts.

“Arresting her father would reveal where Samira's mother is."

On Don's arrest, he said an accused named Rizvi Ahmed had implicated him in a statement. "We want the suspects arrested and the case concluded swiftly."

Investigating officer Mojibur Rahman, an inspector with the Criminal Investigation Department's (CID) Dhaka Metro South unit, said the probe was ongoing.

"One suspect has been arrested. Operations are under way to arrest the others."

He declined to elaborate further, asking that further updates be sought through CID's media cell.

The plaintiff's lawyer, Abid Hasan, said years had already passed and a fresh case had now been filed.

"The investigation should conclude quickly. The suspects should be arrested and brought under the law as soon as possible, and their conviction ensured."

Don's lawyer M Faridul Islam told bdnews24.com he could not discuss the matter over the phone and asked to be visited at his chamber.

Don, known for playing negative roles in Bangladeshi films, remains in jail after being arrested in connection with the case.

Three Decades of Legal Battle

Salman's body was recovered from his flat in the capital's Eskaton on Sept 6, 1996.

He was at the height of his fame in the country's film industry at the time.

His father Komoruddin Ahmed Chowdhury initially filed an unnatural death case.

He later sought to have it converted into a murder case on Jul 24, 1997, alleging his son had been killed.

The court ordered CID to investigate the murder allegation alongside the unnatural death case.

On Nov 3, 1997, CID submitted its final report, concluding that Salman Shah had died by suicide.

Komoruddin rejected the report and filed a revision case.

On May 19, 2003, the court sent the case for judicial inquiry.

Eleven years later, on Aug 3, 2014, Metropolitan Magistrate Imdadul Haq submitted that inquiry report, which also dismissed the murder allegation.

Salman's mother Neela Chowdhury pressed on with the case regardless.

On Feb 10, 2015, she filed a no-confidence petition against the judicial inquiry report, naming 11 suspects she claimed could have been involved in her son's murder.

The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) then took over the investigation.

After the state raised objections, Dhaka's Special Judge Court 6 Judge Imrul Kayesh ordered RAB on Aug 21, 2016, to stop investigating the case.

The Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) subsequently took charge.

After four years of investigation, it submitted its final report on Feb 25, 2020.

That report too found no evidence to support the murder allegation, based on an analysis of statements from 54 witnesses present or otherwise connected to the case, along with a review of seized evidence.

According to the PBI report, Salman had taken his own life out of hurt and emotional distress caused by family problems over his close relationship with film actress Shabnur and the pain of living apart from his mother because of his wife Samira.

Dissatisfied with that report too, Neela sought further investigation into the circumstances of her son's death.

Metropolitan Magistrate Mamunur Rashid, taking the PBI report into account, ordered the suspects discharged on Oct 31, 2021.

Salman's family then filed a revision petition at the Metropolitan Sessions Judge Court.

In October 2025, Dhaka's 6th Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge Jannatul Ferdous Ibn Haque granted the revision petition.

The court, taking into account Komoruddin's allegation and a confessional statement from suspect Rizvi alias Farhad, ordered a murder case to be filed and the allegations investigated.

When PBI submitted its final report in 2020, Don had said: "Whatever Allah does, He does for the best. I've finally been freed from the false allegation of killing my dearest friend."

He had added, "I've had to carry the false accusation of killing my friend in my chest for 24 years. Nothing can make up for the damage I've suffered. I stayed patient.

“The truth never turns into a lie, and a lie can never be forced into becoming the truth."

Six years after making that statement, Don was arrested in the Salman murder case.

Besides Samira and Don, the other suspects named in the case are Samira's mother Latifa Haque Lucy, businessman and former film producer Aziz Mohammad Bhai, David, Javed, Faruk, Rubi, Abdus Sattar, Saju and Rizvi.

Several other unnamed individuals have also been made suspects in the case.