Abdul Karim Tunda acquitted in 1993 serial train blasts case

Two persons were killed and several others injured in the blasts on five trains on the first anniversary of Babri Masjid demolition

Abdul Karim Tunda, after he was acquitted by a Terrorist and Anti-Disruptive Activities Act (TADA) court in the 1993 serial bomb blasts case, in Ajmer, on February 29, 2024. | Photo Credit: PTI

Abdul Karim Tunda, the main accused in 1993 serial train blasts case, was acquitted by a special Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) court in Ajmer on Thursday.

He is currently serving life term in another case.

Two persons had been killed and several others injured in the serial blasts on five trains in Lucknow, Kanpur, Hyderabad, Surat and Mumbai, on the first anniversary of the Babri Masjid demolition.

The TADA court sentenced two other accused, Irfan, alias Pappu, 70, and Hamiduddin, 44, to life imprisonment in the case.

Tunda, 81, is said to be a close aide of wanted terrorist Dawood Ibrahim. The court did not find sufficient evidence to hold him guilty of carrying out the bomb explosions on the passenger trains on the intervening night of December 5 and 6, 1993.

The TADA court framed charges against Tunda, Irfan and Hamiduddin on September 30, 2021 over the blasts in the trains.

‘No evidence’

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which was in charge of the probe, could not prove the case against Tunda beyond reasonable doubt. Tunda’s lawyer Shafqatullah Sultani told journalists in Ajmer that since the prosecution was unable to provide sufficient evidence to prove the charges under the TADA Act, Indian Penal Code, Railways Act, Arms Act and the Explosive Substances Act, he was let off in the case.

Irfan and Hamiduddin were sentenced to life term for the offence of planting bombs. Irfan, who is around 70% paralysed, has been lodged in the Central Jail in Ajmer for about 17 years and Hamiduddin for 14 years.

The CBI had clubbed all the cases against the accused and sent them for trial to the TADA court in Ajmer in 1994.

Lawyer Abdul Rashid, for the two convicted persons, said they would file an appeal against the sentence in the Supreme Court.

Tunda is currently serving a life term after his conviction in a 1996 bomb blast case by a court in Haryana. He was arrested by the special cell of the Delhi Police in Uttarakhand’s Banbasa, situated near the India-Nepal border, in 2013.