’97 blast case: Tunda in cop custody

Top LeT bomb expert Abdul Karim Tunda was today remanded in three-day police custody by a city court in connection with a 1997 blast case, in which one woman was killed and several others were injured. Tunda, who was in police custody till Saturday in connection with a separate bomb blast case lodged against him here, was produced before chief metropolitan magistrate Amit Bansal, and special cell of Delhi police sought his three-day of custodial interrogation. The police said a bomb had exploded at Beadonpura here on October 26, 1997 resulting in death of a woman, and during the searches, a live bomb was recovered by the investigators and it was defused. It also said during the probe, various persons, including some Pakistani and Bangladeshi nationals, were arrested and they had disclosed their involvements in various terror strikes in the country. The special cell also said two of the arrested accused Mohd Amir Khan and Mohd Shakeel had disclosed about their role in the October 26, 1997 blast and had also said that they had taken training of preparing bomb from Tunda. “They (Amir and Shakeel) had disclosed that their mentor Abdul Karim, alias Tunda, had discussed with them the plan of carrying out blasts in Delhi and he (Tunda) further directed them to execute the plans by carrying out blasts in crowded places like Karol Bagh so that maximum causalities can be done,” the police said. This is the fourth case lodged against Tunda in which the police has taken his police custody. Tunda was arrested from the Indo-Nepal border at Banbasa on August 16.