Court discharges LeT bomb expert Abdul Karim Tunda

PTI NEW DELHI, MARCH 5 Suspected LeT bomb expert Abdul Karim Tunda and three others, who were accused of helping Pakistani and Bangladeshi terrorists sneak into India in 1997 to carry out terror strikes, were on Saturday discharged in the case by a Delhi court, which cited lack of evidence. Tunda, one of the 20 terrorists India had asked Pakistan to hand over after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, was discharged by the court, which said there was no prima facie evidence to proceed against him. It was the fourth and final case filed against him by Delhi Police in which Tunda has been discharged. Besides Tunda, who is currently in judicial custody in connection with terror-related cases, the court also discharged his father-in-law Mohd. Zakaria and their two alleged close aides Allauddin and Bashiruddin in the case. According to police, Allauddin and Bashiruddin met Tunda in 1994 through Zakaria before joining LeT. It had claimed that on Tunda’s instruction, the other three accused helped Pakistani and Bangladeshi nationals, allegedly involved in various terror strikes here in 1997, to infiltrate into India. Tunda was arrested from Indo-Nepal border at Banbasa in 2013. He is suspected to be involved in 40 blast cases across the country.