ISLAMABAD: Defense lawyers in the Noor Mukadam murder case on Wednesday completed the cross-examination of the prosecution witnesses and the trial court in Islamabad will now hand over a questionnaire to all suspects to get their individual statements.

Mukadam, a former Pakistani diplomat’s daughter, was found beheaded in Islamabad’s upscale F-7/4 neighborhood on July 20 last year. The murder sparked public outrage and grabbed media attention unlike any other recent crime against women. The key suspect Zahir Jaffer was arrested from the crime scene on the day of the murder and has since been in Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail.

Others charged in the case include Jaffer’s parents, Zakir Jaffer and Asmat Adamjee, their three household staff, Iftikhar, Jan Muhammad and Jameel, and six employees of Therapy Works, a counseling center from where Jaffer had received certification to become a therapist and where he had been receiving treatment in the weeks leading up to the murder.

The case is now in the concluding stage in Islamabad’s district court, where additional sessions judge Atta Rabbani has been conducting its hearings. A lengthy process of recording statements of witnesses before their cross-examination by defense attorneys concluded during Wednesday’s hearing.

The cross-examination process allows defendants or their lawyers to question witnesses along with officials involved in the investigation of a criminal matter to expose weaknesses in the prosecution’s case. The prosecution can also challenge any oral evidence called by the defense by questioning any witnesses from the other side.

The court held in-camera hearing on Wednesday wherein CCTV footage related to the crime scene was played out on the request of Therapy Works counsel Shahzad Qureshi. Later, Asmat Adamjee’s lawyer Asad Jamal also cross-examined the investigation officer, Inspector Abdul Sattar.

Advocate Sikandar Zulqarnain, who is representing the prime suspect Zahir Jaffer, filed three separate applications before the court.

The first application urged the judicial authority to take action against the inspector general police in the federal capital for issuing a clarification last week over the investigation officer’s statement in the court, as the defense counsel described it as an “interference” in the court proceedings.

The second application sought confirmation of the ownership of a mobile number mentioned by the victim’s father Shaukat Mukadam, and the third application demanded action against the investigation officer for drawing a “false and fabricated” sitemap of the crime scene.

The court will resume the hearing on February 9.