Tunda points at shop where he bought bomb-making stuff

Lashkar-e-Toiba bomb expert Abdul Karim Tunda had purchased household materials from a shop in central Delhi’s Khari Baoli in 1993 to make bombs under the terror outfit’s pan-India operations, police said on Thursday.

The 71-year-old’s interrogation revealed that before the Malviya Nagar blast in 1994, Tunda was instructed by top LeT leadership to arrange explosives and give it the final touch for further utilisation.

“Tunda did a recce of central Delhi and finally discovered a shop at Tilak Bazar in Khari Baoli,” the officer said. As he was an expert in preparing bombs with using easily available household items, Tunda purchased urea, nitric acid, potassium chloride, nitrobenzene and sugar from the shop.

In order to identify the shop, Tunda was recently taken to central Delhi by a team of special cell. “The shop was pointed out by Tunda, but he could not recall the shopkeeper whom he had met 20 years ago,” a police officer said.

Police said after giving a final touch to the explosives, Tunda handed it over to one of the operatives appointed to carry out serial blasts in Malviya Nagar. He was declared a proclaimed offender in a case of recovery of explosive substances lodged in 1994 with Malviya Nagar police station under Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act.

Tunda claimed that he worked for the LeT between 1994 and 2003 after which he split from the group due to differences with Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi over funds.

Meanwhile, police said special cell’s team would interrogate Mohammed Alauddin in West Bengal. Alauddin, one of Tunda’s close aides, was arrested by West Bengal Police from Dinajpur late on Wednesday.

“A team of special cell, which was already placed in Dinajpur, has joined West Bengal Police in grilling Alauddin,” the officer added.