Judge to start hearing Air India case today
Victims' families relieved, anxious on eve of complex, expensive trial
By Camille Bains / The Canadian Press

Vancouver - The worst case of terrorism in Canadian history is finally coming to trial.

Almost 18 years after the destruction of Air India Flight 182, two men will face a B.C. Supreme Court judge, sitting without a jury, in criminal trial more complex, more expensive than the Canadian justice system has ever heard.

It all began on June 23, 1985.

That's the day a suitcase bomb exploded aboard Air India Flight 182, plunging the aircraft into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Ireland.

All 329 crew and passengers - including 125 children - perished. Most of them were Canadians of Indian descent and many of the bodies would never be recovered.

Less than an hour earlier, another bomb blast killed two baggage handlers at Tokyo's Narita airport. Luggage containing a stereo tuner hiding an explosive device was meant to be placed aboard Air India Flight 301.

It was the world's deadliest case of aviation terrorism until the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

Ajaib Singh Bagri, a 53-year-old sawmill worker from Kamloops, B.C., and Ripudaman Singh Malik, a 56-year-old Vancouver millionaire, face multiple counts, including first-degree murder, attempted murder and conspiracy in the bombings.

They're accused in the deaths of the people aboard the Air India plane, the two baggage handlers at Narita and the attempted murder of more than 270 people on the second Air India flight, the target of the bomb that exploded prematurely.

More at:

http://www.herald.ns.ca/stories/2003/04/28/fCanada153.raw.html

Recent update on Air India from the CBC:

Just wants to tell truth: Air India witness
Last Updated Mon, 17 Nov 2003 22:52:10
VANCOUVER - The Crown's star witness in the Air India trial said Monday that she just wants to tell the truth about Ripudaman Singh Malik.

INDEPTH: Air India

The woman � whose identity cannot be revealed because of a court order intended to protect her � is the prosecution's key witness in Malik's trial.

Ripudaman Singh Malik (file picture)
He and Ajaib Singh Bagri are accused of planning the 1985 Air India bombing that killed 329 people, most of them Canadian. They are also accused of another bombing the same day that killed two baggage handlers in Japan.

FROM NOV. 10, 2003: Defence cross-examination looks for motivation of Air India witness

Defence lawyer David Crossin, continuing a line of questioning he had raised before, asked her why she testified against Malik, a man she once worked for and claims still to love.

FROM OCT. 31, 2003: Prosecution witness at Air India trial says she 'still loves' defendant

She insisted that she only wants the truth about Malik to come out.

According to the witness, Malik twice admitted his involvement in the Air India plot while they were involved in a secret relationship during the 1990s.

But Crossin contends the woman is a disgruntled former employee out to ruin Malik for ending their relationship and her career as a daycare supervisor.

More at:

http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2003/11/17/airindia031117

An update on the Air India case:

Retired FBI agent recalls allegedly damning statement by Air India accused

GREG JOYCE
Canadian Press


Friday, April 09, 2004

VANCOUVER (CP) - Just as a retired FBI agent was finishing his testimony in the Air India case, he dropped a bombshell Thursday by suddenly recalling another damning statement allegedly made in 1985 by one of the co-accused.

Ron Parrish was in the final segment of re-direct questioning by Crown prosecutor Richard Cairns when Cairns asked him if there was anything else he could recall regarding a conversation he had with his informant in September 1985. Parrish has already testified that the informant had told him Ajaib Singh Bagri had confessed to being involved in the Air India bombings which killed 331 people in June, 1985.

Cairns asked if there was anything else Parrish could recall other than the information contained in a Telex Parrish sent to his superiors about the alleged confession.

"I did not include in the teletype an exchange between the informant and Bagri about how many Sikhs were possibly killed on the plane when it crashed," Parrish said nonchalantly.

Parrish told the court that when the informant had learned that the bombing allegedly had been done by Bagri, he asked Bagri: " 'How could you do this because approximately 100 of their people (Sikhs) were on board the plane.' "

Parrish testified Bagri reportedly replied: "If they were good Sikhs they did not mind dying and if they were bad Sikhs, so what?"

Parrish said his recollection may not have been a direct quote, but it was the gist of the conversation.

"Why did you not include that in your Telex?" asked Cairns.

"It didn't go to any of the planning," answered Parrish. "It went to his mindset at the time and it was so singular in nature that if it was ever let out then, Bagri could possibly remember who the informant was."

Bagri's lawyer, Michael Code, reminded Parrish that this new statement never came up in court earlier.

Code said the statement was not in the Telex, not in any FBI documents, and not in any previous statement Parrish made to investigators leading up to the Air India trial.

Parrish agreed.

"When did this occur to you?" asked Code.

"I always recalled this because it was so telling of the mindset of Bagri at the time," said Parrish.

"My question is how did it come to your attention that you had left this out of your evidence before now?" asked Code.

Parrish said it was Cairns's decision not to ask him about it in direct evidence.

Code asked again how it came about that Parrish decided to mention it now.

"I think I was asked if there was anything else I knew about this meeting which had not been put into evidence. So I reminded him (Cairns) of this."

Under cross-examination Wednesday, Code suggested Parrish lied when he testified the informant had told him that Bagri had confessed to the bombing.

Last month, Parrish confirmed he did not disclose to anyone - including his FBI superiors - details of Bagri's alleged confession to the informant.

The informant has also testified against Bagri.

Bagri and Ripudaman Singh Malik are charged with conspiracy and murder in two bombings June 23, 1985, that targeted Air India and killed 331 people.

http://www.canada.com/news/national/story.html?id=f83fc486-a547-4050-b9b7-f898069103ad

Update Air India:

Damage to Air India 747 consistent with explosion in aft cargo area: expert

JEREMY HAINSWORTH
Canadian Press


Thursday, April 29, 2004

VANCOUVER (CP) - Wreckage of the downed Air India 747 recovered from the ocean floor shows damage consistent with an explosion in the jet's left aft cargo area, the B.C. Supreme Court heard Wednesday.

The dramatic evidence came as the Air India bombing trial of Ajaib Singh Bagri and Ripudaman Singh Malik reached the one-year mark. Christopher Peel used photographs of wreckage from the jet on the ocean floor and after it had been recovered to prepare the court for a visit to the reconstructed remains of the plane Friday.

He said the believed position of the bomb has been marked out at a secret warehouse in the Vancouver area.

"When you get to the wreckage, you'll find it marked out with tape to make it more visually obvious," Peel said.

He referred to a section of the plane's outer skin from about the last 17 rows of passenger seats above a left, aft cargo area.

"It's my opinion it was blown out of the structure very early in the process," he told B.C. Supreme Court Judge Ian Josephson.

He said damage to the piece and others nearby was characteristic of damage seen in explosion trials done in research.

"What the bomb sees, the bomb hits, the bomb deflects," he said.

The area from which the pieces were close to contained two baggage containers central to both the Crown and defence cases.

What is disputed is which container the blast originated from.

The prosecution has presented evidence that bags from two men, both named Singh, were checked in at Vancouver International Airport.

One of those bags would have gone into cargo area 52, the Crown says.

However, lawyer Richard Peck, who is representing Ajaib Singh Bagri, suggested if the Crown cannot show the bag was in that area, it may not have a connection between the explosion and his client.

Peck contends cargo area 51 held the bomb and is expected to introduce witnesses to support the theory.

Peel is part of a team that reconstructed part of the Flight 182 wreckage at a secret Vancouver warehouse.

He was also involved in investigations into the crash of TWA Flight 800 over Long Island, N.Y., in 1996.


Bagri and Ripudaman Singh Malik are being tried on charges of conspiracy and murder in connection with the explosion that downed Air India Flight 182 off the coast of Ireland June 23, 1985.

Malik and Bagri also face charges connected to an explosion at Tokyo's Narita airport the same day.

A total of 331 people died in the two attacks.

The Crown alleges the pair were part of a group of B.C.-based Sikh separatists who targeted the national airline of India to retaliate for the Indian Army's attack a year earlier on the Golden Temple, Sikhism's holiest shrine.

http://www.canada.com/news/national/story.html?id=ccd8649b-cb5c-42c5-b852-9f3cd46d5fa7