Rawalpindi - Prosecution witness SSP Waqar Chohan appeared before an anti-terrorism court yesterday to record his statement in Benazir Bhutto (BB) murder case.
The lawyer of an accused arrested in connection with murder case also cross-examined the SSP, who was one of the investigation officers of joint investigation team (JIT) formed by Punjab government to probe the high profile murder case. The court adjourned the hearing till February 8, 2016.
Earlier, ATC Special Judge Malik Muhammad Ayub Marth took up the murder case during which SSP Waqar Chohan appeared before the court and testified his statement.
The SSP told the court that he shifted two accused namely Aitzaz Shah and Sher Zaman arrested by DI Khan police in connection with BB assassination case to Rawalpindi and obtained their physical remand from a court of law to interrogate them. He added that later it came into his notice that DI Khan police had also nabbed two other accused Husnain Gull and Rafaqat Hussain and he went DI Khan and brought the two more accused to Rawalpindi for investigation.
The court made statement of SSP part of case record.
Advocate Naseer Tanvali, who is representing an accused Aitzaz Shah, while cross-examining the SSP said that the JIT information officer had not interrogated the four accused, rather he only shifted them from DI Khan to Rawalpindi. However, Waqar Chohan replied he had probed the alleged killers.
Another lawyer Malik Jawad Khalid questioned if Waqar Chohan had got approval from Punjab Home Department for shifting the accused from DI Khan to Rawalpindi for investigation. The SSP said he did not remember whether or not the JIT head informed Punjab Home Department in the matter.
The court adjourned the hearing till February 8, 2016.
Later, talking to The Nation, Malik Jawad Khalid confirmed the development and said that so far the statements of 64 witnesses had been recorded in the case.