- News>
- India
Air India trial resumes with motive testimony
Vancouver, Sept 09: The Air India trial has resumed with prosecutors trying to outline the alleged plot by Sikh extremists to blow up the Kanishka aircraft which crashed off the Irish coast in June 1985 killing all 329 people on board.
Vancouver, Sept 09: The Air India trial has resumed with prosecutors trying to outline the alleged plot by Sikh extremists to blow up the Kanishka aircraft which crashed off the Irish coast in June 1985 killing all 329 people on board.
Two critical factors will establish the motive for the bombings, government prosecutor Robert Wright told the British Columbia trial judge yesterday.
One factor, Wright said was the fundamental belief in establishing the independent state of Khalistan and the other motive was to exact revenge against the Indian government for a raid on the Golden Temple in Amritsar in 1984, media reports quoted him as saying.
He said that proof of the alleged plot will be established through witness testimony and through evidence of phone contact among Vancouver businessman Ripudaman Singh Malik, Kamloops sawmill worker Ajaib Singh Bagri and alleged mastermind Talwinder Singh Parmar, the alleged leader of Sikh militant group Babbar Khalsa and Inderjit Singh Reyat, a private TV channel news reported.
Both Malik and Bagri face first degree murder and conspiracy charges for the deaths of people on board the Kanishka flight.
Reyat pleaded guilty in February to manslaugher and was sentenced to five years in prison besides the 15 years he has already spent in custody. He had helped build a second bomb that exploded at Tokyo's Narita airport on the same day the Kanishka flight exploded off the Irish Coast. He is expected to begin testifying tomorrow for the prosecution.
Bureau Report
One factor, Wright said was the fundamental belief in establishing the independent state of Khalistan and the other motive was to exact revenge against the Indian government for a raid on the Golden Temple in Amritsar in 1984, media reports quoted him as saying.
He said that proof of the alleged plot will be established through witness testimony and through evidence of phone contact among Vancouver businessman Ripudaman Singh Malik, Kamloops sawmill worker Ajaib Singh Bagri and alleged mastermind Talwinder Singh Parmar, the alleged leader of Sikh militant group Babbar Khalsa and Inderjit Singh Reyat, a private TV channel news reported.
Both Malik and Bagri face first degree murder and conspiracy charges for the deaths of people on board the Kanishka flight.
Reyat pleaded guilty in February to manslaugher and was sentenced to five years in prison besides the 15 years he has already spent in custody. He had helped build a second bomb that exploded at Tokyo's Narita airport on the same day the Kanishka flight exploded off the Irish Coast. He is expected to begin testifying tomorrow for the prosecution.
Bureau Report