Mumbai, Aug 24 (DNA): The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad will question Lashkar-e-Taiba bomb expert Abdul Karim Tunda in connection with the 26/11 attack.

ATS chief Rakesh Maria said: “Our team will question Tunda about his links with 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed and also about the various bomb blasts that happened in the state since 1993.”

“Since Tunda is an expert in making bombs, we will try to find out how many youth he has trained in the past,” the officer said. “Our main aim is to get information on the Indian Mujahideen. We will also look at his connections with terrorist sleeper cells in the state.”

Another senior ATS officer said that a bomb blast arrested accused, Mohammed Amir Khan, told the police that he met Tunda in Pakistan and both had travelled to Bangladesh and other places.
“He learnt how to make and plant bombs from Tunda.”

Tunda, it is believed, took the radical path after one of his cousins was burnt alive during the communal riots in Bhiwandi in the 1980s. “But we will have to confirm this with him,” the officer said.

The police suspect Tunda created an outfit, Tanzeem Islah-ul-Muslimeen, with Jaleel Ansari in Mumbai before the 1993 blasts. Between 1989 and 1993, Tunda and Ansari set off a series of explosions in Mumbai and other places across the country.

After Ansari’s arrest in January 1994, Tunda fled to Bangladesh and from there to UAE and then to Pakistan. He is wanted in 53 cases across the country.