DELHI: A court on Tuesday discharged suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) bomb expert Abdul Karim Tunda in a 1994 case in which he was facing charges under stringent provisions of the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act among others.

Citing lack of evidence, Additional Sessions Judge Neena Bansal Krishna discharged 73-year-old Tunda. The mainstream media did not highlight Tunda’s release as much as it covered his arrest. The case relates to the arrest of five accused on Jan. 17, 1994 by the Special Cell of Delhi Police and alleged recovery of 150 kg of explosives and six daggers from them.

While Tunda was not among the five, he was named as the coconspirator and charges of TADA were slapped against him. Tunda’s counsel said there was no material evidence to connect Tunda with the recovery of the explosives.

On the TADA charges, he argued that the since other five accused were acquitted under TADA for the same offence, there was no ground to try him under the stringent law.

He said that the confessional statements of the other accused in the case cannot be relied upon.