Suspected leT bomb expert Abdul Karim Tunda and three others, who were accused of helping Pakistani and Bangladeshi terrorists sneak into India in 1997 to carry out terror strikes, were on Saturday discharged in the case by a Delhi court which cited lack of evidence. Tunda, 74, one of the 20 terrorists India had asked Pakistan to hand over after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, was discharged by the court which said there was no prima facie evidence to proceed against him. Earlier, an Interpol Red Corner notice was issued against him in 1996.
It was the fourth and final case filed against him by the Delhi Police in which Tunda has been discharged. Tunda was discharged in three other cases last year.
However, Tunda will not walk free out of jail as trial in several other terror cases are going on.
According to Delhi Police Special Cell sources, Tunda is involved in 33 terror attack cases between 1994 and 1998 in Delhi and other States.
While 22 cases have been registered in the national capital, there are 11 cases against Tunda in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, including one being probed by CBI. “Total of 22 cases are lodged against accused Abdul Karim Tunda in Delhi. He won’t be out from the jail as there are several cases against him. In one case, CBI is probing Tunda and chargesheet has been filed,” said Delhi police sources.
In the earlier three cases in which Tunda was acquitted, two cases pertained to a blast in Karol Bagh on October 28, 1997 and two blasts in Sadar Bazaar here on October 1, 1997. The third case in which Tunda was discharged last year was registered under the stringent provisions of Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) and under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Besides Tunda, who is currently in judicial custody in connection with terror-related cases, the court also discharged his father-in-law Mohd Zakaria and their two alleged close aides Allauddin and Bashiruddin in the case.
The special cell of Delhi Police had filed the chargesheet against
the accused persons for the alleged offences punishable under various sections of IPC, including 121 (waging war against the country), 121-A (conspiring to commit certain offences against the state) and under provisions of Explosives Substance Act, Foreigners Act and Arms Act.
According to police, Allauddin and Bashiruddin met Tunda in 1994 through Zakaria before joining the banned leT. It had claimed that on Tunda’s instruction, the other three accused helped Pakistani and Bangladeshi nationals, allegedly involved in various terror strikes here in 1997, to infiltrate into India.
A number of Pakistani nationals and others were arrested in 1998 in connection with various bomb blasts in India, the special cell had said.
Tunda was arrested from India-Nepal border at Banbasa on August 16, 2013. He is suspected to be involved in 40 blast cases across the country.
Zakaria, Allauddin and Bashiruddin were lodged in separate jails in West Bengal in connection with cases lodged there against them and they were produced before the court here after production warrants were issued against them.
In the Karol Bagh blast case, one person was killed while several others were injured and a bomb was also recovered by the police. In the Sadar Bazar blasts, two bombs exploded in which several persons were injured.