A court in Dhaka on Tuesday revoked its earlier order to exhume the body of late film star Salman Shah for a fresh autopsy in connection with a murder case filed over his death.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Md Jewel Rana passed the order following a petition filed by the plaintiff, seeking cancellation of the previous order, said his counsel Abid Hasan.

He said Mohammad Alamgir Kumkum, the plaintiff in the case and maternal uncle of Salman Shah, filed the petition arguing that exhuming the actor's remains could hurt religious sentiments and create an unwanted situation.

In the petition, it was stated that Salman Shah was buried on the shrine premises of Hazrat Shahjalal (R) in Sylhet and that disturbing his grave could trigger public sensitivities.

The victim's mother, Nila Chowdhury, also objected to the exhumation. Following a hearing, the court withdrew its earlier order.

On May 24, the same court ordered the exhumation of Salman Shah's body following an application filed by the case's investigating officer, CID Inspector Ziaul Morshed, on May 20.

Earlier, on October 20 last year, Alamgir Kumkum filed the murder case with Ramna Model Police Station over the death of the popular actor.

The court subsequently accepted the first information report and directed the investigating officer to submit a report.

The accused in the case include Salman Shah's former wife Samira Haque, her mother Latifa Haque Lucy, businessman Aziz Mohammad Bhai, actor Don and others identified as Debit, Javed, Faruk, Ruby, A Sattar, Saju and Rezvi Ahmed alias Farhad.

On October 20 last year, a court also directed the officer-in-charge of Ramna Police Station to treat the earlier unnatural death case over Salman Shah's death as a murder case. Following the order, Neela Chowdhury's brother, Mohammad Alamgir Kumkum, filed the murder case on her behalf later that night.

Salman Shah, whose real name was Chowdhury Mohammad Shahriar Emon, died on September 6, 1996. His father Kamruddin Ahmed Chowdhury had initially filed an unnatural death case over the incident.

On July 24, 1997, he petitioned the court to convert the case into a murder case, alleging that his son had been killed. The court then directed the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to investigate both the unnatural death case and the murder allegation simultaneously.

Following its investigation, the CID submitted its final report to the court on November 3, 1997, concluding that the actor had died by suicide. The report was accepted by the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court on November 25 that year.

However, Kamruddin later challenged the report by filing a revision petition. On May 19, 2003, the court ordered a judicial inquiry into the case.

After nearly 11 years, Metropolitan Magistrate Imdadul Haque submitted the judicial inquiry report to the court on August 3, 2014. The report also concluded that Salman Shah's death was an unnatural one.

Following the death of Kamruddin, Salman Shah's mother, Nila Chowdhury, was included as the complainant in the case.

On February 10, 2015, she filed a no-confidence petition with the CMM Court challenging the judicial inquiry report.

The case was later investigated by the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI).

On February 25, 2020, PBI Inspector Sirajul Islam submitted the final report to the court. The court accepted the report and disposed of the case on October 31, 2021.

Subsequently, on June 12, 2022, the complainant's side filed a revision petition with the Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court challenging the order.