The three cases, two under the Arms Act and the other one under the Explosive Substances Act, were filed with Cantonment Police Station on August 18, 1996.

Judge Monzurul Bachhid of the Fourth Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court, Dhaka on Thursday issued the order as the prosecution failed to produce the seizure list, witnesses and exhibit evidence before the court even after several court directives.

The court also asked the accused whether he pleaded guilty or not of the charges brought against him in the three cases. The accused pleaded not guilty and demanded justice before the court.

The judge said the prosecution failed to produce the then Officer-in-charge (OC) of Cantonment Police Station SM Naimur Rahman for exhibiting the seizure lists and the pieces of evidence. He said the OC had earlier appeared before the court to give his statement as the complainant of the case.

When contacted on Thursday, Assistant Public Prosecutor (APP) Mohammad Jalal Uddin Ahmed told The Daily Star that he had asked Naimur to appear before the court on August 13 to give his statement.

A team of Criminal Investigation Department (CID) along with the then OC of Cantonment Police Station raided Faruk's home at DOHS in the capital around 3:45am on August 18, 1996. They seized a revolver, a shotgun, an airgun, a sten-gun, 616 bullets, eight international passports, 2,830 Pakistani rupees and 62.75 Libyan dinars from the house.

Four cases were filed with Cantonment Police Station following the seizure, one under the Arms Act, one under the Foreign Currency Control Act, one under the Explosive Substances Act and the other under the Special Powers Act.

On May 9 last year, the same court acquitted Faruk of charges in the case filed against him in connection with the possession of foreign currencies, as they were not proved. Another court on October 20, 2004 sentenced Faruk to life imprisonment in the sensational Jail Killing Case.