Staff Correspondent:

In a dramatic twist to one of Bangladesh’s most haunting celebrity mysteries, police have launched a high-stakes manhunt to prevent 11 suspects, including the late film icon Salman Shah’s ex-wife, Samira Haque, from fleeing the country, nearly three decades after his shocking death.

A murder case was formally filed at Ramna Police Station just after midnight on October 21, reigniting a cold case that has gripped the nation since September 6, 1996, the night 24-year-old superstar Salman Shah was found hanging from a ceiling fan in his Eskaton residence.

Long ruled a suicide by investigators, the case is now being treated as homicide following relentless pressure from Shah’s family and fresh scrutiny by law enforcement.

On Saturday, Ramna Police Station Officer-in-Charge Golam Faruk confirmed that the names of all 11 named accused have been urgently forwarded to the immigration authorities with strict instructions: no one is to leave Bangladesh.

“We are treating this as a murder investigation under court order,” OC Faruk told reporters. “Many of the accused may already be abroad. We’re using mobile tracking and digital forensics to locate those still inside the country. But we’ve taken immediate steps to stop any of them from escaping.”

The accused list reads like a cast from a thriller: Samira Haque, Salman Shah’s former wife, Aziz Mohammad Bhai, a prominent businessman, Latifa Haque Lucy, a socialite linked to Dhaka’s elite circles, and Don, a notorious figure known as a “villain” in the local underworld

And seven others, plus “several unidentified persons” believed to have played roles in what police now suspect was a coordinated act of foul play.

The case was filed by Salman Shah’s maternal uncle, Alamgir Kumkum, after his mother, Neela Chowdhury, spent 29 years insisting her son was murdered—not suicidal. “He had everything to live for,” she has repeatedly said. “Fame, love, a future. Why would he end it all?”

For years, the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) stood by its suicide conclusion. But mounting public outcry, inconsistencies in the original probe, and new witness accounts have forced authorities to reopen the file—with unprecedented urgency.

OC Faruk insisted there is “no external pressure” on the investigation. “We will arrest the accused—wherever they are—and bring them to justice,” he declared.

As immigration checkpoints go on high alert and digital trails are traced across borders, Bangladesh holds its breath. The ghost of Salman Shah—the golden boy of 90s cinema—may finally get the justice his family has demanded for nearly three decades. But with suspects possibly already overseas, the race against time has never been more critical.