From Carpenter To Bomb Specialist: Who Is Abdul Karim Tunda Acquitted By TADA Court In 1993 Blast Case

A TADA (Terrorist & Anti-disruptive Activities Act) court in Ajmer's Rajasthan on Thursday acquitted 1993 serial bomb blasts' main accused Abdul Karim Tunda. Here's all you need to know about Tunda.

According to the police, Tunda worked as a carpenter, scrap dealer and cloth merchant before he was radicalised and turned into a terrorist at the age of 40.

A TADA (Terrorist & Anti-disruptive Activities Act) court in Ajmer's Rajasthan on Thursday acquitted 1993 serial bomb blasts' main accused Abdul Karim Tunda. The court acquitted Tunda due to lack of evidence. 

Tunda was accused of carrying out the 1993 bomb blasts in five trains across India just exactly one year after the Babri Masjid demolition in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992. Earlier, he was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in the 1996 Sonepat blast case. He is currently serving that sentence in Rajasthan's Ajmer jail.

Abdul Karim Tunda alias Abdul Quddooss was one of the top most-wanted terrorists in India until he was arrested in August 2013. The 81-year-old "bomb-specialist" was one of the 20 terrorists India had demanded a handover from Pakistan after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack.  Others on the list were Laskhar-e-Taiba (LeT) chief Hafiz Saeed, Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Maulana Masood Azhar and Dawood Ibrahim, amongst others

Believed to be involved in several bomb-blast cases in India, Tunda was arrested in 2013 from the Banwasa-Mehendarnagar border between India and Nepal. He has been accused in multiple cases in connection with bomb blasts. Earlier, in February 2023, Tunda was also acquitted by a trial court in Haryana in the 1997 twin Rohtak bomb blast cases due to lack of evidence. He is said to be the mastermind behind bomb blasts in India between 1996 to1998 blasts.

According to police, Tunda is LeT's top bomb maker and has also trained youngsters in preparing and planting bombs with locally available materials like urea, nitric acid, potassium chloride, nitrobenzene and sugar.

Tunda was born and brought up in Pilkhuwa in Ghaziabad district of Uttar Pradesh. It has been alleged that he had a Pakistani Passport which was issued on 23 January, 2013 in the name of Abdul Quddus. Reportedly, Tunda was initiated into terrorism by the ISI in the 1980s.

According to the police, Tunda worked as a carpenter, scrap dealer and cloth merchant before he was radicalised and turned into a terrorist at the age of 40. He was nicknamed Tunda because of his handicapped left arm after he was injured while preparing a bomb. He is also believed to be closely assiciated Dawood.

--With Agency Inputs