Abdul Karim Tunda,LeT bomb expert suspected to be behind 40 blasts,held

A resident of Pilkhuwa,near Ghaziabad,Tunda was among the first Indians to set up an LeT module in the Indian hinterland. He was allegedly responsible for a series of blasts,starting with the 1993 Mumbai train blasts and then the spate of attacks in1996-1997 using pencil batteries as explosives. This was the first time when alerts went out about transistor bombs,toys and such material.

In the recent past,Tunda is believed to have been involved in scouting for young talent to join the world of jihad and motivating them through long sermons. This work took him across several countries like Saudi Arabia,UAE,Bangladesh and Nepal where young low-income Muslim youth could be easily tapped.

He was also allegedly involved in planning some key attacks. According to Delhi Police,his last major attempt was an attack during the Commonwealth Games in 2010,using “an elaborate network of human traffickers and fake Indian currency couriers from Bangladesh”. However,the plan failed after some of his accomplices were arrested.

Delhi Police sources claimed that Tunda was possibly scouting for youth to carry out a terror strike in Delhi,on the directions of LeT head Hafiz Mohammed Saeed.

Tunda has been caught with a recently renewed Pakistani passport (AC 4413161),using the name Abdul Quddus,and wads of Indian,Pakistani and Nepalese currency. Special Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) S N Srivastava said: “He was arrested on the Bansawa-Mahendernagar border with Nepal at 3 pm on August 16 and brought to Delhi by road. He was carrying a Pakistani passport issued on January 23,2013.”

Born in 1943 in Chatta Lal Miya in Daryaganj,Tunda,the son of a metal worker,got the nickname because of his amputated left arm — a result of a bomb making accident. Sources said Tunda is also called “Hakimji” nowadays.

Having eluded Indian sleuths for years,Tunda was even presumed dead in 2000. Later,some reports said he had been caught in Kenya,all of which proved wrong. In 2005,Abdul Razzaq Masood,another LeT terrorist who was nabbed and later committed suicide here,mentioned during his interrogation that Tunda was in Muridke,30 km from Lahore,running a ittar (perfume) shop opposite the LeT headquarters.

Some other inputs suggested that he had of late got involved in the running of a madrasa there and a syndicate to move fake Indian currency along with a Dawood Ibrahim aide,Iqbal Kana. He was also reported to have grown close to LeT head Hafiz Mohammed Saeed and to the now jailed operations chief Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi.

But Tunda’s story started three decades ago. In 1985,he moved to Mumbai to set up a dyeing fabric business but ended up deeply affected by the communal riots he witnessed in the small town of Bhiwandi near Mumbai. He later befriended one Dr Jalees Ansari (arrested by CBI for the 1993 Mumbai train blasts) and the duo started “Tanzeem Islah-ul Muslimeen” (TIM) to help riot-affected Muslims. Ansari used to deliver sermons on the communal riots of Assam (1982) and Meerut (1982-83).

Other top LeT militants like Azam Ghouri and Abu Masood,who used to visit Al-e-Hadees mosque in Mominpura,also joined the outfit. In 1993,during the first anniversary of the Babri Masjid demolition,Tunda and Ansari allegedly scripted the serial train blasts where the targets were high-profile trains like the Rajdhani Express. Ansari was later arrested but Tunda managed to escape,first to Bangladesh and then to Pakistan. In 1996,when the CBI took over the investigations,a red corner notice was issued against him. Despite this,he traveled to Afghanistan and even returned to India from Dhaka in the same year.

Having trained in explosives during this period,Tunda then allegedly masterminded 42 blasts across various states including Delhi from 1996 to 1998. One of the biggest explosions took place in a crowded bus at Punjabi Bagh in December 1997. Such blasts using pencil batteries were repeated in Panipat,Sonepat,Ludhiana,Kanpur and Varanasi. Tunda later managed to flee India again. And then came the false inputs about his death in Bangladesh,derailing investigations for some time.

Tunda’s two wives and six children are suspected to have moved to Bangladesh in 1995,soon after his name cropped up in the blasts probe. They reportedly spent a couple of years in Bangladesh before finally moving to Pakistan. At the age of 60,Tunda is reported to have married a teenaged girl. His three wives and seven children are believed to be living in Pakistan,where he owns two houses — one in Lahore and the other in Karachi.

Home Ministry sources said Tunda is in the list of 50 most wanted terrorists,handed over to Pakistan after Mumbai 26/11. He is also suspected to be involved in raising funds for the terror group in the Middle East,forging ties with Dawood’s network.

According to the dossier with Indian agencies,Tunda is wanted in 33 criminal cases and is alleged to have been involved in 40 blasts across the the country. His arrest is likely to reveal the details of the inner workings of Lashkar and Indian Mujahideen,as Tunda is believed to be closely associated with the top jihadi leadership behind these groups.