LAHORE: The Punjab Prosecution Department has sought an anti-terrorism court’s permission to cross-examine the complainant of Zain murder case in the presence of media persons along with record of his frequent statements to different television channels accusing former state minister’s son Mustafa Kanju of killing his nephew.

The complainant, however, retracted his statement on the last date of the trial. The presiding judge, Muhammad Qasim, had recorded the statement of the complainant after the prosecution team was asked to leave court following a heated debate with the judge, an official said.

“We were not present in court when the complainant expressed his inability to recognise the suspects standing in the dock,” a member of the prosecution told Dawn.

However, the judge also mentioned that the statement of the complainant was recorded in isolation, he added.

Complainant Sohail Afzal, maternal uncle of slain Zain, had told the court that he had not nominated any person in the FIR and police had obtained his signature on a blank paper. He said he reached the crime scene after a delay of more than one hour.

The prosecution in its application said the complainant deviated from his previous statement, therefore, it should be allowed to cross-examine him in the presence of media persons who recorded his accusation against the indicted men. The court would decide the application on Tuesday.

On Saturday, the counsel for the prime accused told the court that a ‘compromise’ with the complainant party was in progress.

The trial court had in June indicted Mustafa Kanju and six others on charges of killing 16-year-old Zain and injuring Hussain, 18, in Cavalry Ground area. Kanju was allegedly drunk when his car hit another car driven by a woman in April 2015. Kanju got infuriated and opened fire at the other vehicle which the woman had already driven away from the scene and passersby Zain and Hussain fell a victim to firing.

The son of former minister Siddique Kanju had fled the scene and was later arrested in Khushab.

Published in Dawn, August 16th, 2015

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