Prosecution seeks end of witness deposition

Accusing defence lawyers of the Chittagong arms haul cases of prolonging proceedings by asking questions on unnecessary issues, a prosecution lawyer submitted a petition yesterday stating that they did not require any more witnesses.
Advocate Kamal Uddin Ahammad also appealed to Chittagong Metropolitan Special Tribunal Number 1 for closing the deposition recording of prosecution witnesses.
The charge sheet mentions 264 prosecution witnesses, 56 of whose depositions, including that of the cases' fifth and last investigation officer (IO), have been recorded.
The court fixed October 10 for hearing the petition.
It also acknowledged that defence lawyers conducting the cross examination of the IO, which started on May 7, in the last four working days were wasting the court's time and asked them to complete the cross examination in one hour the same day.
The petition was submitted when lawyers representing former state minister for home Lutfozzaman Babar sought one more day for the cross examination.
The two cases, one for smuggling firearms and the other under the arms act, were filed a day after seven truckloads of arms and ammunition were seized at a jetty of Chittagong Urea Fertiliser Ltd in Chittagong city on April 2, 2004.