Top Lashkar-e-Taiba bomb expert Abdul Karim Tunda, who has been admitted to the AIIMS for special cardiac care, was today sent to 14 days’ judicial custody by a Delhi court.
A magistrate visited Tunda in the hospital and remanded him to custody till September 7. Tunda was scheduled to be produced before the court today after the expiry of his four-day police custody.
He was admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) yesterday for special cardiac care.
70-year-old Tunda, who was arrested from the Indo-Nepal border last Friday, was admitted to Safdurjung hospital on August 22 after he complained of chest pain.
However, keeping in view the specialised care and security concerns, he was shifted to AIIMS the next day and admitted in the Intensive Cardiac Care Unit.
A Delhi court had on August 20 remanded Tunda to four days police custody for questioning him in connection with 37 bomb blast cases across the country.
The police had told the court that Tunda was a declared proclaimed offender in a case of recovery of explosive substances lodged in 1994 at south Delhi’s Malviya Nagar police station under the provisions of stringent anti-terror law TADA.
During the proceedings, which had been held in-camera, after a lawyer interrupted it, Tunda had told the court that he was “innocent” as he had not motivated anyone to kill women and children by exploding bombs.
Tunda is one of the 20 terrorists India had asked the Pakistan Government to hand over after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack and is suspected to be involved in 40 bombings in the country. He is the first in the list to be arrested.
According to Delhi Police, he is wanted for his role in 1993 Mumbai serial train blasts, Delhi bomb blasts of 1997-98 and serial bombings in UP and also at Panipat, Sonepat, Ludhiana and Hyderabad.