Tunda acquitted in blast case

Panipat, December 1

The court of VP Sirohi, Additional District and Sessions Judge, today discharged suspected Lashkar-e-Toiba bomb expert Abdul Karim, alias Tunda, citing lack of evidence.

The court ordered that he should be shifted to the Dasna jail in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh. Tunda (73) had been accused of carrying out a bomb blast in a private bus in Panipat on February 1, 1997.

Tunda was produced in court amid high security today as he was attacked by two jail inmates in the Karnal jail on Wednesday morning.

He was arrested by the Panipat police on November 8, 2013, in connection with the blast in a private bus in which 10-year-old Madu of Pathri village was killed and several injured. It was alleged that Tunda was the conspirator of the blast.

Advocate Sultan Kharab said,“A total of 42 witnesses recorded their statements in court in the case during trial. The prosecution failed to prove the allegations against him.” Tunda was arrested from Banbasa on the Nepal border on August 16, 2013. He was an alleged bomb-maker for the terror outfit Lashkar-e-Toiba and accused of masterminding over 40 bombings in India. —TNS