Tunda slapped in Delhi court

Lashkar-e-Toiba operative Abdul Karim Tunda was slapped on Tuesday by a member of the Hindu Sena while he was being produced before the metropolitan magistrate. As Tunda was being brought to the Patiala House court, two men attacked him.

One of them, Shiv Kumar Raghav, who claimed to be the president of the Hindu Sena, managed to push through policemen surrounding Tunda and slapped him on the face. The other man has been identified as Vishnu Gupta. The duo were shouting: “Desh ke gaddaro ko phansi do (hang the traitors).” “We have arrested them for attacking Tunda and a few police officers,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) S B S Tyagi.

Tunda was produced before the court as his police remand expired on Tuesday. After the attack, he was rushed to the court of metropolitan magistrate Jay Thareja. The magistrate took cognisance of the attack and ordered an in-camera trial, preventing reporters from entering the courtroom. The magistrate said the Patiala House court premises should be checked to prevent similar attacks.

The court extended Tunda’s police custody by four days.  The special cell told the court that Tunda, during his interrogation, had mentioned four places including West Bengal. They expressed willingness to take him to those places. The special cell, however, did not disclose the reasons behind taking Tunda there.

Strong network

Tunda has revealed that he was using a strong network of operatives in Bangladesh to smuggle fake currency into India. The supplier was a brigadier in Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence. He was running the racket from Lahore with assistance from Iqbal Kana, who received consignments of the fake currency. Kana used to hand him the consignment, to be pushed into India through Bangladesh and Nepal.

“Kana was using Tunda as a courier,” said a senior police officer. Tunda was also in touch with two more persons involved in smuggling fake currency.

In January last year, the Delhi Police seized fake currency worth more than Rs 2 crore. Kana is wanted in the case.

Tunda had claimed that Kana also used the ISI’s name to extort Pakistani traders. “The ISI noticed this. They questioned Kana about it. They knew that he uses Tunda’s premises to store money. The ISI raided Tunda’s place and seized fake currency to the tune of Rs 9.5 crore. They left the two with a warning after Kana apologised,” said the officer.

Tunda also claimed that the fake currency was either printed in Peshawar or Islamabad. “He told us that these notes were printed in Peshawar or Islamabad. From Islamabad, the bags of fake notes came to Lahore,” said a senior police officer.

Asked whether Tunda and Kana had links with the currency smuggling network run by Dawood Ibrahim, the officer said though Tunda has not revealed anything on the matter, the investigators are probing that angle as well.