A Terrorist and Anti-Disruptive Activities Act (TADA) court on Thursday acquitted 1993 serial blasts accused Abdul Karim Tunda due to lack of evidence.
“Abdul Karim Tunda is innocent, today the Court gave this judgement. Abdul Karim Tunda has been acquitted in all sections and all acts. CBI prosecution could not produce any concrete piece of evidence before the court in TADA, IPC, Railway Acts, Arms Act, or Explosive Substances Act,” Tunda's lawyer Shafqat Sultani was quoted by ANI as saying.
Who is Abdul Karim Tunda?
Hailing from Hapur in Uttar Pradesh, Syed Abdul Karim worked as a carpenter is Pilkhuwa. According to reports, he got the nickname ‘Tunda’ after losing an arm while making a bomb.
Tunda is said to have been trained in making improvised explosive devices (IED) in Pakistan. According to Mint, he had told police about his contacts with Pakistan spy agency Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) during his stay in the country.
Tunda came in touch with Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and became a top bomb maker for the terror outfit. He is also said to be close to Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar.
Must Read: Indian media propaganda about Dawood Ibrahim poisoned in Karachi exposed
1993 India blasts
It has now been 30 years since the bomb blasts carried out in five trains across India to coincide with the first anniversary of Babri Masjid demolition in Ayodhya on Dec 6, 1992.
"The honourable court has acquitted Abdul Karim Tunda from all the charges. The CBI failed to present any strong evidence against Abdul Karim Tunda," says Tunda's advocate Shafiktullah Sultani, as reported by Times of India.
The TADA court had framed charges against main accused Abdul Karim Tunda and two others - Irfan alias Pappu and Hamiruddin - on Sept 30, 2021, for orchestrating the blasts in Lucknow, Kanpur, Hyderabad, Surat and Mumbai on the intervening night of Dec 5-6, 1993.
Two persons were killed and at least 22 injured in the explosions on board three New Delhi and Howrah bound Rajdhani Express trains, Surat-Baroda Flying Queen Express and Hyderabad-New Delhi AP Express..
When Tunda was arrested?
Tunda was arrested in 2013 along the Banwasa-Mehendarnagar border with Nepal.
Dawood Ibrahim death reports in Indian media
As usual, Indian media outlets along with India-based social media users stormed X and other social media platforms with the news of the ‘death’ of Dawood Ibrahim in Karachi.
The media claimed that the man was rushed to hospital after being poisoned and even posted screenshots of what appeared to be the account of Pakistan's caretaker Prime Minister Anwar ul Haq Kakar, who mentioned that Dawood had died. But the message turned out to be completely fake.
SAMAA Digital conducted fact-checking and clarified that the screenshot was not the account of Kakar and there is no ‘confirmation’ about Dawood.
Indian media Television channel using their typical sensational hype broke the news without attributing a single authentic or credible source.
Once again, Indian media and a troll army of Indian propaganda users failed to justify their claim and were exposed in front of new media platforms. In the era of fact-checking, the Indian media has been pursuing decades-old propaganda.
