A special court in Rajasthan’s Ajmer on Thursday acquitted prime accused and alleged mastermind Abdul Karim Tunda in the 1993 serial train blast case. The court also convicted other two accused namely, Aminuddin and Irfan and sentenced them to life imprisonment.
The court pointed out lack of evidence against Abdul Karim Tunda. Reportedly, two people were killed and many more were injured in a blast on multiple trains on the first anniversary of the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition.
Abdul Karim Tunda, who is currently in his 80s, is serving a life term after his conviction in a 1996 bomb blast case. He is also an accused in several other bombing cases. Tunda is known to be close to terrorist Dawood Ibrahim, he is also known as Dr Bomb for his bomb-making skills.
The incident took place on December 6, 1993, when a series of bomb blasts took place in Rajdhani express trains across various parts of the country, including Mumbai, Lucknow, Kanpur, Hyderabad, and Surat. Consecutively, five cases were lodged at respective police stations in Kota, Valsad, Kanpur, Allahabad and Malka Giri and were later transferred to CBI and re-registered under TADA.
These serial bombings were purportedly in retaliation for the first anniversary of the demolition of Babri Masjid. Nearly 17 individuals were arrested in this case. Hameeduddin was apprehended on January 10, 2010, Irfan Ahmed post-2010, and Tunda was arrested on January 10, 2014, near the Nepal border. Reportedly, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) may approach the Supreme Court to challenge Tunda’s acquittal.
Reports stated that Tunda started out as a carpenter before turning to terrorism in his 40s. He came under the scanner after the 1993 blasts in Mumbai. Tunda lost his left hand in a blast during bomb-making. He has worked with multiple terrorist organisations, including Lashkar-e-Toiba, Indian Mujahideen, Jaish-e-Mohammed and Babbar Khalsa.
Earlier in 2013, he was arrested in Uttarakhand’s Banbasa, located close to the India-Nepal border. After four years, a Haryana court sentenced him to life imprisonment in a 1996 blast case.