A Sessions Court on Saturday discharged suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba bomb expert Abdul Karim Tunda and three others who were accused of helping terrorists from Pakistan and Bangladesh infiltrate India in 1997 to carry out terror attacks. The court cited lack of evidence. The verdict was announced for the fourth and final case filed by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police against Tunda. He was one of the 20 terrorists India had asked Pakistan to hand over after the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai, PTI reported.

While the Delhi Police had named Tunda in 20 cases, they filed only four chargesheets against him. The court also released his father-in-law Mohd Zakaria and their two alleged aides Allauddin and Bashiruddin. Tunda was discharged in connection with three other terror cases last year, including one from 1994 that was filed under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act. The Special Cell challenged this verdict in the Supreme Court, The Indian Express reported.

The other incidents Tunda was charged for were related to a blast in Karol Bagh in Delhi in 1997 and two blasts in Sadar Bazaar the same year. He was arrested from the Indo-Nepal border at Banbasa, Uttarakhand, on August 16, 2013. Zakaria, Allauddin and Bashiruddin were lodged in jails in West Bengal in connection with cases filed there against them.