‘LeT bomb expert’ Tunda discharged in two cases

In the Sadar Bazaar blast case, he was discharged of attempt of murder and criminal conspiracy

Abdul Karim Tunda was arrested by the Special Cell of Delhi Police on August 16 last year from the Indo-Nepal border. (Source: PTI photo)

More than a month after a Delhi court discharged suspected Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) bomb expert Abdul Karim Tunda in an alleged 1994 Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) case, a Delhi sessions court on Thursday discharged the 73-year-old in two more cases lodged in 1997.

Additional Sessions Judge Reetesh Singh discharged Tunda, who is facing trial in the cases pertaining to a blast in Delhi’s Karol Bagh area on October 28, 1997, and two blasts in Sadar Bazaar on October 1, 1997. In the Karol Bagh blast case, one person was killed while several others were injured and a bomb was recovered; while in the Sadar Bazar blasts, two bombs exploded injuring several people.

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In the Karol Bagh blast case, Tunda has been discharged under the various provisions of the Explosive Substances Act and the IPC including sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder).

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In the Sadar Bazaar blast case, he was discharged of attempt of murder and criminal conspiracy.

Alleging that Tunda was the main conspirator on whose instructions the blasts were carried out, the prosecution had made out case against him based on the disclosure statements of other accused, who were arrested in 1998 for their alleged involvement in the blasts.

During the argument on framing of charges, Tunda’s counsel said other co-accused in the case — Amir Khan and Mohd Shakil — have been acquitted and charges cannot be framed on the basis of their disclosure statements.

Kaunain Sheriff M

Kaunain Sheriff M is an award-winning investigative journalist and the National Health Editor at The Indian Express. He is the author of Johnson & Johnson Files: The Indian Secrets of a Global Giant, an investigation into one of the world’s most powerful pharmaceutical companies. With over a decade of experience, Kaunain brings deep expertise in three areas of investigative journalism: law, health, and data. He currently leads The Indian Express newsroom’s in-depth coverage of health. His work has earned some of the most prestigious honours in journalism, including the Ramnath Goenka Award for Excellence in Journalism, the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) Award, and the Mumbai Press Club’s Red Ink Award. Kaunain has also collaborated on major global investigations. He was part of the Implant Files project with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which exposed malpractices in the medical device industry across the world. He also contributed to an international investigation that uncovered how a Chinese big-data firm was monitoring thousands of prominent Indian individuals and institutions in real time. Over the years, he has reported on several high-profile criminal trials, including the Hashimpura massacre, the 2G spectrum scam, and the coal block allocation case. Within The Indian Express, he has been honoured three times with the Indian Express Excellence Award for his investigations—on the anti-Sikh riots, the Vyapam exam scam, and the abuse of the National Security Act in Uttar Pradesh. ... Read More

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