Two men plead innocent in 1985 bombing of jet

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Two Sikh men accused of bombing an Air India flight in 1985, killing all 329 people on board, pleaded innocent Monday as their trial began under heavy security in a specially built courtroom.

Ajaib Singh Bagri, 53, and Ripudaman Singh Malik, 56, sat behind bulletproof glass for the trial almost 18 years after the Boeing 747 exploded off the coast of Ireland in the worst terrorist bombing of a commercial aircraft.

Calling Bagri a "militant Sikh terrorist," prosecutor Robert Wright said in his opening statement the bombing was revenge by Sikh separatists for the 1984 raid by Indian forces on the Golden Temple at Amritsar, the religion's holiest site.

"Their motive was so strongly felt that they were prepared to murder hundreds of innocent people," Wright said.

A third man who pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the case would testify, Wright said. The testimony from Inderjit Singh Reyat could be crucial, as evidence made public so far has mostly been circumstantial. Other testimony would come from an unidentified witness, Wright said.

In their opening statements, defense lawyers called the prosecution case weak. "Even if the crown can prove the existence of a conspiracy, Bagri was not a member of it," said his lawyer, Richard Peck.

Air India Flight 182 from Montreal to New Delhi exploded over the Atlantic on June 23, 1985. Most of the victims were Canadian.

An hour earlier, a bomb in baggage intended for another Air India flight exploded in Tokyo's Narita Airport, killing two baggage handlers.

"It is the theory of the crown that these explosions were the result of one conspiracy," Wright said.

Parviz Madon, whose husband Sam died in the Air India disaster, said she attended Monday's opening session to see the accused face-to-face.

"It's hard. It's really upsetting to see the kind of people that took our loved ones," Madon said, describing her feelings as "a lot of anger, hatred sometimes."

Stringent security, with body searches and a metal detector, caused long lines at the $4.8 million basement courtroom constructed for the case.

Bulletproof glass separated spectators from the proceedings, and the defendants sat in separate bulletproof enclosures. Both wore traditional Sikh clothing, including turbans, and both had long, graying beards.

The trial culminates an investigation involving at least four countries that cost more than $30 million. Canadian investigators believe both bombs came from British Columbia, home to about half of Canada's 200,000 Sikhs.

Bagri and Malik each are charged with murder, attempted murder and conspiracy.

Reyat pleaded guilty Feb. 10 to one count of manslaughter and was sentenced to five years in prison on top of time served while awaiting trial. He previously served a 10-year sentence for his 1991 conviction in the Narita airport bombing.

Reyat previously told the Canadian court he acquired bomb-making materials he believed would be taken to India, but denied knowing the explosives would be used on Flight 182 or who put them on the plane.

After Reyat's guilty plea, Malik and Bagri chose a trial by judge. If convicted, they face life sentences. Canada prohibits capital punishment.

The case exposed deep rifts in the Indo-Canadian community in the Vancouver area, with violence and intimidation of those perceived to be assisting police.

Rattan Mall, editor of Indo-Canadian Voice newspaper, said some believe "all this happened because (victims) were Indo-Canadians, they weren't you know, white Canadians. There's a lot of resentment because of that."

Sgt. Grant Learned of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said before the trial that case grew more complex over time, and stretched to Japan, India and Ireland.

Investigators believe Talwinder Singh Parmar, leader of the extremist Babbar Khalsa group, was behind the bombing. The group advocates the creation of a Sikh state called Khalistan in India's Punjab. Parmar was killed by Indian police in 1992.

Malik, who worked as a taxi driver after arriving in Canada from India in 1972, later became a force behind the Vancouver-area Khalsa Credit Union with assets in excess of $70 million.

Bagri arrived in Canada in 1968, according to court documents, and was a mill worker in Kamloops, 200 miles northeast of Vancouver.

He also was charged with the 1988 attempted murder of Tara Singh Hayer, publisher of the Indo-Canadian Times newspaper in Vancouver, who was shot after agreeing to be a witness in the Air India case. The charge is still pending.

Ten years later, Hayer was shot to death at his home. No one was ever charged in the killing.

------

On the Net:

The trial can be followed on the Web site www.airindiatrial.ca created by the Law Courts Education Society of British Columbia.