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{{Short description|Alleged terrorist}}
{{cleanup|reason=rewrite, repeated info, not continued timeline|date=August 2013}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2026}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Syed Abdul Karim ''Tunda''
| image =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name = Syed Abdul Karim
| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1943}}
| birth_place = Daryaganj, Delhi, India
| death_date = 
| death_place =
| other_names = Tunda
| occupation = Carpentry and scrap business in past
| known_for = Alleged involvement in over 40 bombings in India
|spouse= Mumtaz and two others
| children = 7
}}

'''Syed Abdul Karim''', alias '''Tunda''' (born 1943) is an accused of masterminding over 40 bombings in India supported by Pakistani terrorists.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Who-is-Abdul-Karim-Tunda/articleshow/21877163.cms |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130820111414/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-08-17/india/41420067_1_jammu-and-kashmir-terror-outfit-major-terror-attacks |url-status=live |archive-date=20 August 2013 |date=8 August 2013 |work=[[The Times of India]] |title=Jammu and Kashmir terror outfit major attacks}}Who is Abdul Karim Tunda?</ref> He was arrested by Indian authorities on 16 August 2013 from the India-Nepal border at Banbasa. However, the exact timings of this arrest is disputed with various versions being reported.<ref>[http://news.biharprabha.com/2013/08/the-controversy-over-arrest-of-abdul-karim-tunda/ The Controversy over Arrest of Abdul Karim Tunda]</ref><references group="News" /> Later, he received a clean chit by a Delhi court in all four cases against him,<ref>{{cite news|title=Abdul Karim Tunda gets clean chit in all four cases|url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/delhi-court-discharges-let-bomb-expert-abdul-karim-tunda/article8318199.ece|accessdate=7 March 2016|work=[[The Hindu]]|date=6 March 2016}}</ref> although he was sentenced to life imprisonment for bomb blasts in [[Sonipat]], Haryana.<ref name=TheHindu>{{Cite news |last=Pandey |first=Devesh K. |date=2021-08-19 |title=NIA to grill LeT terrorist Abdul Karim Tunda in Darbhanga blast case |language=en-IN |work=The Hindu |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/nia-to-grill-let-terrorist-abdul-karim-tunda-in-darbhanga-blast-case/article35990542.ece |access-date=2022-07-29 |issn=0971-751X}}</ref>

==Early life==
Born in 1943 at Chatta Lal Miya area in central Delhi's Dariyaganj area, he started his career as a carpenter at his native village in Bazaar Khurd area in [[Pilkhuwa]] in [[Uttar Pradesh]]'s [[Ghaziabad district, Uttar Pradesh|Ghaziabad district]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Tripathi|first=Rahul|title=Syed Abdul Karim Tunda: The story from Pilkhuwa to Pakistan|url=http://www.indianexpress.com/news/the-tunda-story-from-pilkhuwa-to-pakistan/1158864/|accessdate=23 August 2013|newspaper=Indian Express|date=23 August 2013}}</ref> He married for the first time here in Uttar Pradesh. He came to Behrampura, [[Ahmedabad]] in 1982 and started carpentry and scrap business. He looked after a mosque and taught holy books to children. He married for the second time, Mumtaz and had a son, Irshaan after a year of a marriage. He returned to Delhi in 1989.<ref name=abad>{{cite news|last=Shastri|first=Parth|title=Seven years in Ahmedabad|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/Seven-years-in-Ahmedabad/articleshow/22041103.cms|access-date=26 August 2013|newspaper=The Times of India|date=25 August 2013}}</ref> He married for the third time an 18-year-old girl, at the age of 65 in Pakistan.<ref name=abad/> He has 6 children.

==Later life==
He came under the police radar after the [[1993 Bombay Bombings|Mumbai serial bombings]] in 1993. He got the moniker ''Tunda'' – Hindi/ Bengali (Bangla) for without a hand or physically handicapped- after his left hand got severed in an accident while preparing a bomb in 1985 in Mumbai. His younger brother Abdul Malik, who still is a carpenter, is reportedly the only immediate family member alive in India. He also stayed in Pakistan where he is known to have imparted training on the fabrication of IED and other explosives to [[Mujahideen|mujahids]] who were sent to India from Pakistan for [[jihad]].<ref>{{cite news|last=PTI|title=Tunda's fascination with explosives began at the age of 12|url=http://www.indianexpress.com/news/civil-disservice/1156820/|accessdate=23 August 2013|newspaper=Indian Express|date=18 August 2013}}</ref> During his stay in Pakistan, he had been in touch with organisations like [[Inter-Services Intelligence|ISI]], [[LeT]], [[Jaish-e-Mohammed]], [[Indian Mujahideen]] and [[Babbar Khalsa]] and had been meeting people like [[Hafiz Muhammad Saeed|Hafiz Saeed]], [[Maulana Masood Azhar]], [[Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi]], [[Dawood Ibrahim]] and several others wanted by India. He used an elaborate network of human traffickers and fake currency suppliers active in Bangladesh. Tunda has also been associated with [[Rohingya]] operatives in the past. His association with LeT commanders Rehan alias Zafar and [[Azam Cheema]] alias Babajee is well known.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.freenewspos.com/news/article/a/653069/today/abdul-karim-tunda-39-s-journey-from-a-carpenter-to-terrorist |publisher=Free News Post |title=Abdul Karim Tunda's journey from a carpenter to terrorist}}</ref>{{failed verification|date=March 2016}}

==Role in terrorism==

After being indoctrinated by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in the 1980s, Tunda became a jihadi at the age of 40.{{citation needed|date=March 2016}} After allegedly masterminding 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, in 1994, he fled to Bangladesh where he taught making bombs to jihadi elements and in 1998, he acted as 'mentor' to give training to younger generation of Lashkar operatives in terror camps in Pakistan. In 1994, Tunda's name surfaced in Chhattisgarh Express bomb blast near Ghaziabad railway station that claimed 19 lives.<ref>{{cite news|last=Pandey|first=Devesh|title='LeT ideologue' Tunda in police custody|url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/let-ideologue-tunda-in-police-custody/article5031691.ece|accessdate=23 August 2013|newspaper=The Hindu|date=18 August 2013}}</ref>

In 1994, Delhi Police and the intelligence bureau raided a home in the Ashok Nagar area after receiving a tip-off from sources but Tunda managed to escape before being nabbed. Security agencies found explosives, detonators, Pak made weapons and objectionable documents written in Urdu from his hideout in huge quantity. In 1996, an [[Interpol Red Corner notice]] was issued against Tunda. In 1997, after returning to India, he was involved in a bomb blast that took place near Punjabi Bagh in west Delhi in a Blueline bus that killed at least four people and injured around 24 people. It is believed that he died in a blast in Bangladesh in 2000 but Abdul Razzaq, an LeT operative arrested by the Delhi police in 2005, revealed about his presence in Pakistan.<ref name=abad/>
Tunda's name was on number 15 in a dossier of "most wanted terrorists" that India handed over to Pakistan after [[26/11]] Mumbai terror attacks. He is also believed to be guiding the banned Students Islamic Movement of India ([[Students Islamic Movement of India|SIMI]]), which later turned into Indian Mujahideen. Besides that, he was planning to 'recruit' [[Rohingyas]] from Myanmar to target Buddhists there.{{Citation needed|date=August 2013}}

He had tried to carry out serial explosions in Delhi just before the [[Commonwealth Games]] in 2010 but the plan was foiled as his accomplices were arrested. According to reports, it emerged that Tunda aims at carrying out blasts at crowded places and inflict maximum casualties. A close aide of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, [[Jamaat-ud-Dawa]] chief [[Hafiz Mohammad Saeed]] and top LeT commander [[Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi]], an "expert bomb maker", Tunda was accused of masterminding over 40 cases of bomb blasts in Mumbai, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Hyderabad and Surat. Tunda was a prized catch by the Delhi police in the war against terror, who took shelter in various countries after fleeing India 20 years back. He had a major hand in spreading Laskhar-e-Taiba's network outside Jammu and Kashmir.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.oneindia.com/2013/08/19/know-all-about-bomb-expert-abdul-karim-tunda-1286364.html |title=Know all about Karim Tunda |publisher=One India}}</ref>

===Arrest===
The Special Cell of Delhi Police arrested 70 years old Tunda on 16 August 2013 in Uttarakhand's Banbasa area close to the Nepal border on the basis of an information provided by R&AW. He possessed a Pakistani passport issued on 23 January 2013.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-08-17/india/41420250_1_delhi-police-indo-nepal-border-let-terrorists |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130820031855/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-08-17/india/41420250_1_delhi-police-indo-nepal-border-let-terrorists |url-status=dead |archive-date=2013-08-20 |work=[[The Times of India]] |title=Arrested Lashkar terrorist Abdul Karim Tunda was carrying Pakistani passport: Delhi Police}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://zeenews.india.com/news/nation/delhi-police-arrest-lashkar-e-toibas-bomb-expert-abdul-tunda_869597.html |title=Delhi police arrest Lashkar-e-Toiba's 'bomb expert' Abdul Karim Tunda}}</ref> Arrested in 2013,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/syed-abdul-karim-tunda-one-of-indias-most-wanted-terrorist-arrested-by-delhi-police/articleshow/21875912.cms|title=Syed Abdul Karim Tunda: One of India's most wanted terrorist, arrested by Delhi Police|date=2013-08-18|work=The Economic Times|access-date=2019-10-11}}</ref> he was taken to court.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.thehindu.com|title=Release|date=5 March 2016|access-date=5 March 2016}}</ref> Tunda was sentenced to life imprisonment by a trial court in October 2017 for his involvement in the 1996 Sonepat bomb blasts in Haryana.<ref name=TheHindu />

===Health===
He was admitted to [[AIIMS, New Delhi]] with health complications in August 2013. An [[angiography]] revealed blockages in vessels in his heart. Doctors implanted a [[pacemaker]].<ref>[http://news.biharprabha.com/2013/08/terrorist-abdul-karim-tunda-gets-a-pacemaker-at-aiims/ Terrorist Abdul Karim Tunda gets a Pacemaker at AIIMS], biharprabha.com. Accessed 30 August 2024.</ref>

==See also==
*[[List of terrorist incidents in India]]
*[[Pakistan and state sponsored terrorism]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Fugitives wanted by India}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tunda, Syed Abdul Karim}}
[[Category:1943 births]]
[[Category:1993 Bombay bombings]]
[[Category:Fugitives wanted by India]]
[[Category:Fugitives wanted on terrorism charges]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian criminals]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian Muslims]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Indian people imprisoned on terrorism charges]]
[[Category:People convicted on terrorism charges]]
[[Category:Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by India]]
[[Category:Indian prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment]]
[[Category:Islamic terrorism in India]]

Syed Abdul Karim Tunda - Revision history

ZitaKight7091: Created new info