Vancouver, Nov 04: A key witness in the Air India trial has testified that one of the chief accused had confessed to the bombing of the Kanishka flight and had the blessing of his Sikh spiritual advisor in carrying out the plot. The woman, who cannot be identified as she is in protective custody, also said that Ripudaman Singh Malik had confessed to her that Canadian Sikhs had sent money to Sikhs in London plotting the assassination of then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.

She testified that the accused told her that Bhai Jeewan Singh blessed the bombing plan of the Air India Flight 182 which later crashed off the Irish coast on June 23, 1985 killing all 331 people on board, media reports said.

The blessing came when Malik and others met with the holy man in Seattle, she told the court yesterday.
"We had Air India crash," Malik had told her.

"If one child dies for Sikhism, so what? we had the Air India crashed. Nobody, I mean nobody can do anything. It is all for Sikhism," Malik had confessed to the woman, a private news channel reported.

"He was very calm and very serious," she told the court. She said that when she heard Malik say this, she "just broke down. I cried."

Bureau Report