Over 30 years after the bomb blasts carried out in five trains across India to coincide with the first anniversary of Babri Masjid demolition in Ayodhya on Dec 6, 1992, a TADA (Terrorist & Anti-disruptive Activities Act) court in Ajmer on Monday acquitted the main accused Abdul Karim aka Tunda over lack of evidence in the case. Two others Irfan (70) and Hameeduddin (44) were sentenced to life imprisonment.
“The honourable court has acquitted Abdul Karim Tunda from all the charges. The CBI failed to present any strong evidence against Abdul Karim Tunda,” said Tunda’s advocate Shafiktullah Sultani.
The TADA court had framed charges against Tunda, 81, a close aide of Dawood Ibrahim, and two others – Irfan alias Pappu and Hamiruddin – on September 30, 2021, for orchestrating the blasts in Lucknow, Kanpur, Hyderabad, Surat and Mumbai on the intervening night of Dec 5-6, 1993.
The blasts had taken place on four trains on the first anniversary of the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition.
Two persons were killed and at least 22 injured in the explosions on board three New Delhi and Howrah bound Rajdhani Express trains, Surat-Baroda Flying Queen Express and Hyderabad-New Delhi AP Express.
On February 28, 2004, the TADA court had sentenced 16 accused to life imprisonment in the case. The Supreme Court had acquitted four men and upheld sentences for the remaining.
Tunda was accused of a bomb blast in front of the police headquarters in Delhi in 1996. And in the same year, Interpol had issued a Red Corner Notice against him.
In 2000, there were reports of Tunda being killed in Bangladesh, but in 2005 Lashkar terrorist Abdul Razzaq Masood was caught in Delhi, who revealed that Tunda was alive.
Tunda was also among the 20 terrorists whose extradition to India was sought from Pakistan after the attack on Parliament House in 2001.
He was finally nabbed in 2013 from the India-Nepal border.
Abdul Karim was named ‘Tunda’ after he lost an arm while making a bomb. He faced about 33 criminal cases and has been accused of carrying out about 40 bomb blasts in 1997-98.
There are only three special courts across the country to hear the TADA cases. These are Mumbai, Ajmer and Srinagar. Srinagar Court is newly formed, hence most of the cases related to North India are heard in TADA Court of Ajmer whereas cases related to South India are heard in Mumbai.
(With Inputs from IANS)
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