Tunda, 75, was among the “20 terrorists” that India had asked Pakistan to hand over post the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai.
Rohtak: Syed Abdul Karim Tunda, an alleged bomb-maker of militant outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), who has been named in “40 related terror cases” in India, was on Monday convicted by a Haryana local court of triggering two bomb blasts in Sonipat in 1996.
On December 28, 1996, the blasts had gone off – one in a market area not far from the Sonipat bus stand and another near a cinema in which 12 people were injured, seven of them seriously. However, all the victims had survived. This was followed by blasts in Rohtak and Panipat soon after.
On Monday, the court of Additional District and Sessions Judge, Sonipat, Dr. Sushil Garg, convicted Tunda under Sections 307 (attempt to murder) and 120 B (conspiracy) of the IPC. He was also convicted under section 3 of the Explosives Act. Tunda’s lawyer Ashish Vats said they would challenge the district court’s verdict before the High Court.
Tunda, 75, was among the “20 terrorists” that India had asked Pakistan to hand over post the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai. He was arrested by Delhi police from India-Nepal border at Banbasa on August 16, 2013.
Initially, the police had arrested two persons, Shakeel Ahmed of Pilkhua in Uttar Pradesh and Mohammad Amir Khan of New Delhi, in the case. In their interrogation, both the accused confessed to their involvement in the case. According to Haryana police officials, Amir had revealed that he had met Tunda in Pakistan and traveled with him to Bangladesh and other places to learn the skills needed to plant bombs.
Both Shakeel and Amir were acquitted by the court in 2002 and 2006. Meanwhile, in 1998, Tunda, a resident of Pilkhua was declared a proclaimed offender. The file was reopened in August 2013 after the special cell of Delhi police arrested Tunda in cases registered against him at Sonipat, Panipat, and Rohtak. His trial in Panipat and Rohtak will continue.
According to reports soon after arguments concluded on Monday, Tunda reiterated that on the day of the blasts he was in Pakistan and that he had nothing to do with the attack. The defense counsel too pleaded innocence of his client. Tunda, who comes from Pilkhua village of western UP, was a homeopath practitioner.
In the 1980s, he came in contact with hardliners and learned to manufacture bombs. He is alleged to have masterminded blasts triggered by LeT in New Delhi, Ludhiana, Kanpur, and Varanasi as well between 1996 and 1998.
