Family and neighbours of Abdul Karim Tunda on Saturday welcomed Delhi Police’s arrest of one of India’s ‘most wanted’ terrorists, saying that he should be hanged to death for the crimes that he has committed.

His detention ushered much awaited relief for his relatives and neighbours and they sought stringent punishment for him.

Reacting to the arrest, Tunda’s brother Abdul Malik who resides at Hapur said that the Police had frequently visited his residence to inquire about his whereabouts from family members.

“The court will decide whether the responsible figures and authorities of the country are correct or not,” Abdul Malik said.

Malik added that he last saw his brother in 1991.

He also said that Tunda’s family stayed in Hapur for approximately one and a half years between 1994 and 1995.

Reportedly, a Pakistani passport was recovered from Tunda, who is a native of Ghaziabad city on the outskirts of national capital.

Meanwhile, Tunda’s sister-in-law didn’t mince her words, saying that he should be punished with death sentence since he had been the root cause for all the harassment endured by the entire family.

“Earlier, many times it was said that he had been arrested but it was never the case. But this time it is good news that he has been arrested. He should be hanged to death. We were facing lot of trouble because of him,” Tahira said.

Devinder Sharma, a neighbour of Abdul Karim Tunda, rejoiced over his arrest and said that maximum punishment should be awarded to him, as prescribed in the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

“There should be a strict investigation against him. He was a shame and had even ruined the reputation of this locality. It’s a very proud moment for the country that he got arrested a day after the India’s Independence Day,” Devinder Sharma said.

The hunt for Tunda had faded away in 2000, after news trickled in to Indian intelligence agencies that he had died.

However, his case was reopened in August 2005 when an alleged LeT chief coordinator and operative was arrested by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police, who disclosed that Tunda was still alive.

Earlier in the day, while addressing media, Special Commissioner of the Delhi Police Special Cell SN Srivastava said that Tunda has been sent to three days police custody and added that the police had got information about his whereabouts from central intelligence agencies.

“Tunda has also worked with most wanted terrorist Azam Chima, Zaki Ur Raheman Lakhvi, Hafiz Saeed and Bada Sahib, and was also associated with Dawood Ibrahim, Iindia’s most wanted terrorist,” he said. Srivastava also informed that the top LeT terrorist had planned to carry out a blast in Delhi ahead of the Commonwealth Games in 2010, but could not succeed, as his aides were arrested.

Tunda was born in Delhi and later shifted to Pilakhuan, a village in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad District. Tunda turned into a Jehadi militant at the age of 40. He is said to have had a role in the 1993 Bombay blasts as well as in bomb explosion incidents in Ludhiana, Hyderabad, Sonepat, Panipat and Surat.

The Delhi Police has named Tunda as an accused in 21 terror cases and claims that his role was also to provoke Muslim youth and to train them to make IED. He is known to be an expert in the making of bombs with the help of Uria nitric acid, and other chemicals.

Delhi Police is also claiming that he was in touch with Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). In 2008, India had sent a list of most wanted terrorists to Pakistan which included the name of Tunda. Tunda, 65, was arrested by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police from the India-Nepal Border late on Friday night.