CHANDIGARH: Arrested Dawood aide and self-styled Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) commander Abdul Karim Tunda will be quizzed by a team of Punjab police in connection with his role in Shingar cinema blasts in Ludhiana that had claimed six lives and left 37 injured in 2007.
The LeT terrorist, in 1990, had allegedly launched an outfit Khalistan Kashmir International, which had trained and helped another Sikh terrorist group, Babbar Khalsa International, to execute terror strikes in Punjab for more than a decade. The official request for a joint interrogation was placed by the state’s intelligence wing before Delhi police special cell on Monday.
“We are maintaining contacts with Delhi police special cell on Tunda. We are trying to establish his role in Sikh militancy. Once that is done, we will use the production warrant to bring him to a local court here,” additional director general of police (ADGP), intelligence, Hardeep Singh Dhillon told TOI.
The team may comprise Ludhiana commissioner P S Gill, IG (counter intelligence) Ananya Gautam and a local intelligence bureau member.
Even though his name was not included in any of the FIRs registered by Punjab police in any terrorist activities in the state, the Delhi police said they have clinching evidence for Tunda’s role in Sikh insurgency. “We have inputs from Central intelligence agencies on his involvement in at least Shingar cinema blast,” S N Srivastava, Delhi police special commissioner (special cell) told TOI.
Four BKI men – Gurpreet alias Khalsa, Palwinder Singh, Sandeep Singh alias Harry and Ravinder alias Rinku – were arrested for their role in Shingar blasts. The police had recovered 5kg of RDX, 3 detonators and two pistols from the suspected BKI terrorists.
Tunda is said to have stayed several times in Jalandhar between 1990 and 1998.
The banned terrorist organisation Khalistan Kashmir International was formed by him on May 3, 1990 following a meeting with BKI chief Wadhawa Singh and Lahbir Singh Rode, the head of the International Sikh Students Federation, in Lahore, Punjab police said.
According to police, when BKI chief Wadhawa Singh wanted to dispatch explosives to India through Bangladesh in 2010, he had contacted Tunda for it. In return, Tunda would distribute fake Indian currency notes in India though Wadhawa’s network.
Wadhawa’s attempt to send explosives was however foiled after Tunda’s aides were arrested in Bangladesh four days before they were to execute the plan.
Both Punjab and Delhi police are hopeful his questioning will help the Punjab government identify the working module of some terrorist outfits in the state.
Source: TOI