The Delhi Police on Monday urged a court here that the alleged Lashkar-e-Taiba bomb expert Abdul Karim Tunda be charged under stringent Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) in a case relating to recovery of explosives here in 1996.
The appeal was made by the Special Cell of Delhi Police in a written submission filed before Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Bharat Parashar on framing of charges against Tunda, one of the 20 alleged terrorists India had asked Pakistan to hand over after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.
The police sought framing of charges under Sections 3 (3) and 5 of the TADA along with Section 5 of the Explosive Substances Act read with 120-B (criminal conspiracy) IPC.
The police also told the court that framing of charges under the TADA against Tunda cannot by affected by the verdict of a designated TADA court acquitting five of Tunda’s co-accused in November 1999 from TADA.
Tunda could not be arrested then and, therefore, was not tried. He was arrested by the Special Cell on August 16, 2013 from Indo-Nepal border.
However, Tunda’s advocate M.S. Khan contended that since the verdict of the designated court was not challenged by the police before a higher court, it has attained finality.
Mr. Khan contended there was no material evidence to connect Tunda with the five accused persons, Aftab, Abdul Haq, Afaq Khan, Irfan Ahmed and Abdul Wahid, who were acquitted by the court.
The police had claimed there was circumstantial evidence against Tunda as 40 kg of explosives were recovered from the house of his brother in Delhi, where he was also residing in 1994.
