1993 serial train blasts: 3 terrorists including ‘Tunda’ charged; hearing on Oct 25

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Abdul Karim alias Tunda

Jaipur, (Asian independent) A TADA court in Ajmer on Thursday charged Abdul Karim alias Tunda, Irfan and Hamimuddin in connection with the series of bomb blasts that took place in trains in Lucknow, Kanpur, Hyderabad, Surat and Mumbai in 1993.

The case will now be tried in the TADA court under the relevant sections of the law. All three were produced in the court under tight security on Thursday. The matter will now come up for hearing on October 25.

The terrorists were presented in the court and charged under the relevant sections of TADA, Explosives Act, PDP Act and Railways Act. The court has ordered that before October 25, the list of witnesses on behalf of the public prosecutor will have to be presented in the court.

The hearing will be held on October 25, said advocate Abdul Rashid.

On the intervening night of December 5 and 6 1993, the first anniversary of the Babri Masjid demolition in Ayodhya, a serial blasts took place in six Rajdhani Express trains, killing two and injuring 22 people.

Terrorist Abdul Karim alias Tunda was lodged in the Ghaziabad jail in UP. On September 24, he was shifted from Ghaziabad to Ajmer. Tunda was caught from the Nepal border in 2013. Two of Tunda’s accomplices, Hamimuddin and Irfan alias Pappu, were already lodged in Ajmer jail.

Tunda is a resident of Pilkhuwa town in Hapur district in Uttar Pradesh. He was an explosives expert for Lashkar-e-Taiba at the time of the blasts in 1993.

Jalis Ansari from Mumbai, Azam Gauri and Tunda from Nanded had carried out the blasts in trains in five major cities in 1993 to avenge the Babri demolition by forming the organization ‘Tanjim Islam alias Muslim’.

Tunda is also accused in the case related to the blast in front of the police headquarters in Delhi in 1996. The same year, Interpol had issued a red corner notice against him.

There are only three special courts across the country to try the accused who are caught under the TADA Act — in Mumbai, Ajmer and Srinagar.