The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will move the Supreme Court against the acquittal of alleged terrorist Abdul Karim Tunda in the 1993 serial train blasts case.
On Thursday, a TADA (Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act) court in Ajmer acquitted Mr. Tunda citing insufficient evidence. However, it sentenced two other co-accused, Aameer-Ul-Uddin and Irfan Ahmed, to life imprisonment. They were found involved in the explosions triggered on December 5-6, 1993, in five trains, including a Rajadhani Express, running on various routes.
Also read: 1993 Mumbai blasts | A trial of ‘huge magnitude’, 30 years later
As of now, 12 of the accused have so far been sentenced to life imprisonment in the cases investigated by the CBI. The TADA court had convicted and sentenced 15 accused to life imprisonment on February 28, 2004. The Supreme Court had earlier upheld the sentencing of 10 of them.
They include Mohammed Jalees Ansari, Ashfaque Khan, Habib Ahmed Khan, M. Jamal Alvi, Mohammed Afaque Khan; Fazlur Rehman Sufi, Mohammed Shamsuddin aka Painter Baba; Mohammed Amin, Mohammed Aizaz Akbar, and Abre-Rehmat Ansari aka Kari.
In the intervening night of December 5-6, 1993, the accused had planted improvised explosive devices in the trains and the explosions took place in Mumbai, Surat, Hyderabad, Kanpur, and Lucknow. Initially, five criminal cases were registered by the local Government Railway Police stations. Subsequently, the Centre transferred the cases to the CBI.
The CBI said on Friday that their investigation showed that the various accused persons sought to spread terror among the public at large and to create disharmony among different communities of the country on the occasion of the first anniversary of the demolition of Babri Masjid at Ayodhya.
