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Ershad’s trial adjourned till April 21

'Case not an act of political vengeance

’ By Staff Correspondent
A prosecution witness in Ershad s arms case trial Metropolitan Magistrate A.K M Ismail yesterday denied that the case against Ershad was an act of political vengeance
He was replying to the cross examination by the Defence Lawyer at the Special Tribunal trying deposed Presdent Ershad
The Tribunal was adjourned yesterday for 10 days
The adjournment order came after the cross-examination of two more prosecution witnesses the ballistics expert of the police Fakhir Saleh Mohammad and the Metropolitan Magistrate A.K.M. Ismail.
Seven prosecution witnesses have been grilled so far with one more yet to come.
The accused Ershad was put in the dock at around 10:30 am looking a little fresher than he did the prevl ous day
In his statement before the Tribunal witness Fakhir Saleh Mohammad said that all the arms recovered from the Sena Bhaban were lethal and that the bullets found there were also more powerful than the 0.22 calibre bullets.
According to the 1974 Arms Act. the President is not allowed to keep arms above the 0.22 calibre without 11-
The cross-examination of the ballistics expert was held in the morning and could not be covered because of the token-strike observed by journalists from 11 am to 1 pm Wednesday.
The cross-examination of the Metropolitan Magistrate A.K.M. Ismail was held tn the afternoon.
The Metropolitan Magistrate in his statements before the Tribunal corroborated those made by the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate. AzIzu 1 Haque Bhuiyan.
He stressed that Ershad's brother-in-law Mustafizur Rahman had deposited the arms before the deadline set by the government for the surrendering of illegal arms expired on December 26.
Following are excerpts of the cross-examination:
DL: Did you Identify the articles of Bangabhaban?
MM: I did not do so.
DL: Who Identified the articles?
MM: Representatives of different departments identified their respective articles.
DL: You were with them?
MM: Yes.
DL: Did they come with a list?
MM: Yes. They Identified their items with the help of the list
DL: Was there any level against all the items recovered from the Bangabhaban?
MM: There were levels of Bangabhaban against all the crockery and utensils but not against all the items.
DL: Did you see any register there?
MM: No, I did not see any register.
DL: Did you see any documents or register of the items not belonging to the government?
MM: No. I did not see any such register.
DL: Did you find any separate register of arms?
MM: No 1 did not find any register of arms.
DL: Was there any register of other articles?
MM: There was no register. Representatives of respective departments brought their own lists of items supplied to the Bangabhaban.
DL: Did you discuss at all on the point, who of who owns the unlicensed arms?
MM: There was no such meeting.
DL: Did you sign the report which you sent to the government?
MM: 1 did not sign.
DU You sought two kinds of directives from the higher au-thorlty. Was there any directive from the higher authority?
MM: There was no directive from the higher authority.
DL: When you sought dlrec tlve from the higher authority, you would not know who was the owner of these arms. And you also were not confirmed that those belonged to Ershad?
MM: We saught directive from the higher authorities for the d1Bp<>sal of the arms.
Judge: You sought directive for disposal but not for identification.
MM: We wanted to know what to do with the recovered articles.
DL: You could not ascertain the ownership of the articles. So you sought guidelines from the higher authority?
MM: Not for Identification but for what should be done with the Items.
DL: Did you mention personal' In the Inventory list?
MM: No I did not. But the arms which were unlicensed were mentioned as 'without 11-
DL: Has Ershad ever said It?
MM: No. he has not.
DL: Did you say that those arms belonged to Ershad in your statement made before the police on January 20?
MM: It was mentioned In the computerised report submitted to the police.
DL : You did not tell it to the police.
MM : I did not
DL : Mustafizur Rahman deposited a box to you. Did you ask him to do so ?
MM : We did not ask him to deposit the box. He brought it on his own.
At this stage the Attorney General prompted that the box brought on his own.
Defense Lawyer Sirajul Haque took offence and said tt should be written that the answer was prompted by the Attorney General .
The Judge then humorously said, "His sensations are out of his control”.
DL : Do you know that the government had declared if any one deposits arms before December 26 he will be exempted from punishment ?
MM : Yes. The announcement was made by Home Secretary.
DL : Do you know that the Home Secretary is part of the government.
MM : Yes.
DL : Four arms of the box arc the subject matter of this case.
MM : There are more arms other than those recovered from the b6x.
DL : Do you know that the President and other members of the Parliament can keep arms without license In whatever numbers they wish ?
MM : I don't know.
DL : He can deposit the arms after six month of his stepping down from the post.
MM : I don't know.
DL : Do you know that my client wrote four letters to the Home Ministry and three letters to the Acting President between December 15 and December 26 requesting them to allow his wife to remain present during the identification of the articles.
MM : I don't know. I have seen a letter authorising Mustafizur Rahman as the representative of the exPresident.
DL : What was written In the -letter. He was only authorised to receive articles
DL : (Giving a suggestion) Mustafizur Rahman was authorised to receive articles but not for identification.
DL : What is B.V.?
MM : It means Bangabhaban.
DL : Who owns Taka 10 lakh ?
MM : We sought an opinion from the authority about the money.
DL : Did you follow any pro cedure in making the list of Items ?
MM : We did not take any decision in this matter.
Judge : Did you seek any directive from the higher authority about to whom you will hand over the articles ?
MM : We sought directives for disposal of the articles.
DL : You are lying about everything for the sake of the
MM : This is not true.
DL : You have said It dearly that the arms were recovered on December 24.
MM : We recovered those on December 24 but made the report on December 25.
DL : How many bulets have you recovered ?
MM : 375 bullets, (out of the total 174 bullets were with the arms recovered from the box deposited by Mustafizur Rahman).
DL : Did you recommend any case ?
MM : I did not
DL : Did you give any opinion taking offence on the part of Ershad ?
MM : No. I did not give any opinion.
DL : Police seized the arms by force.
MM : No this is not true.
DL : What did they say ?
MM : They seized the articles for lodging a case.
DL : You did not seize any article ?
MM : No I didn't
DL : You are working automatically. There is no case. You are being compelled to give witness tn a false case and under pressure you are doing this. decision in this matter.
Judge : Did you seek any directive from the higher authority about to whom you will hand over the articles ?
MM : We sought directives for disposal of the articles.
DL : You are lying about everything for the sake of the
MM : This is not true.
DL : You have said It dearly that the arms were recovered on December 24.
MM : We recovered those on December 24 but made the report on December 25.
DL : How many bulets have you recovered ?
MM : 375 bullets, (out of the total 174 bullets were with the arms recovered from the box deposited by Mustafizur Rahman).
DL : Did you recommend any case ?
MM : I did not
DL : Did you give any opinion taking offence on the part of Ershad ?
MM : No. I did not give any opinion.
DL : Police seized the arms by force.
MM : No this is not true.
DL : What did they say ?
MM : They seized the articles for lodging a case.
DL : You did not seize any article ?
MM : No I didn't
DL : You are working automatically. There is no case. You are being compelled to give witness tn a false case and under pressure you are doing this.DL : My client said that as a
MM : I don't know that.
DL : This is a case of political vengeance.
MM : This is not true.
After finishing the cross-ex amination Defence Lawyer Slrajul Haque shook hands with the Metropolitan Magistrate and the Metropolitan Magistrate also shook hands with Ershad who was sitting in the dock.
The tribunal will resume on April 21.