 |
|
| |
|
||||
Air India Flight 182 was a flight that flew on a Montreal-Mirabel International Airport, Montreal, Quebec - London Heathrow Airport, London - Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi - Sahar International Airport (now Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport), Bombay (now Mumbai) route. The flight was bombed on the Montreal to London leg on June 23, 1985 31,000 feet (9500 m) above the Atlantic Ocean, South of Ireland, killing all 329 aboard.
The SuspectsThe main suspects in the bombing were the members of a Sikh terrorist group operating in Canada called the Babbar Khalsa. The Babbar Khalsa was devoted to creating a Sikh state called Khalistan in the Punjab. On November 6th, 1985 the RCMP raid the homes of the suspected Sikh terrorists, Talwinder Singh Parmar, Inderjit Singh Reyat. Surjan Singh Gill, Hardial Singh Johal, and Manmohan Singh. Talwinder Singh Parmar was a naturalized Canadian citizen living in British Columbia and was wanted for extradition to India for his role in terrorist activities in the Punjab including 30 murders. On March 5th, 1985, 3 months before the bombing, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) had obtained permission to tap Parmar’s phone on the basis that he was the leader of the Babbar Khalsa [1] (http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/airindia/documents/tab1.pdf) Inderjit Singh Reyat was living in Duncan, Vancouver Island, British Columbia and working as an auto mechanic and electrician. Surjan Singh Gill was living in Vancouver as the self-proclaimed consul-general of Khalistan. He later fled Canada and is believed to be in hiding in London, England. Ripudaman Singh Malik was a Vancouver businessman who owned a credit union and several “Khalsa Schools” Ajaib Singh Bagri was a mill worker living in Kamloops, British Columbia. He was taped giving a speech to Sikhs at Madison Square Garden on July 1984 in which he tells the crowd "Until we kill 50,000 Hindus we will not rest," Hardial Singh Johal and Manmohan Singh were both followers of Parmar and active in the Sikh temples were he preached. On November 15th, 2002 Hardial Singh Johal, died of natural causes at 55. He had allegedly stored the suitcases with bombs in the basement of a Vancouver school but was never charged in the case. Daljit Sandhu is later named by a Crown witness as the man who picked up the tickets for the bombing. Timeline Of The TrialsThe bombing of Air India Flight 182 and the Narita airport launched several investigations, inquiries and trials which are listed below in chronological order. November 8, 1985 - The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) charge Talwinder Singh Parmar and Inderjit Singh Reyat with weapons, explosives and conspiracy offences after a raid on their homes. Reyat is convicted of the weapons offence and receives a fine of two thousand dollars. Due to lack of evidence the charges against Parmar are dropped and no link to Air India is established. January 22, 1986 - The Canadian Aviation Safety Board determines that a bomb was responsible for bringing down Air India 182. February 4, 1986 - The Indian Government's Kirpal Commission of Inquiry reaches the same conclusion as the Canadian Aviation Safety Board February, 1988 - Inderjit Singh Reyat is arrested by British police in Coventry, England. December 8, 1989 - The British government agrees to extradite Reyat to Canada following a lengthy court battle. May 10, 1991 - Inderjit Singh Reyat receives a ten year sentence after being convicted of two counts of manslaughter and four explosives charges relating to the Narita Airport bombing. October 15, 1992 - Talwinder Singh Parmar is killed by Indian Police during a gun battle in Bombay. October 27, 2000 - Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri are arrested by the RCMP. They are charged with 329 counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of the people on board Air India Flight 182, the conspiracy to murder, the attempted murder of passengers and crew on the Canadian Pacific flight at Japan's Narita Airport, and charged with two counts of murder of the baggage handlers at the Narita airport. June 4, 2001 - The British government gives Canada permission to charge Inderjit Singh Reyat in connection with the Air India bombing. June 6, 2001 - Inderjit Singh Reyat is arrested by the RCMP facing charges of murder, attempted murder, and conspiracy in the Air India bombing. February 10, 2003 - Reyat pleads guilty to one count of manslaughter and a charge of aiding in the construction of a bomb. He was sentenced to five years in jail. As part of his plea bargain all other charges against him were stayed and was not required to provide testimony in the trial of Malik and Bagri. April 2003 - The trial of Malik and Bagri, which was delayed by pre-trial motions and problems with defense counsel begins. May 18, 2004 - The crown rests its case in the trial of Malik and Bagri after calling 80 witnesses. May 31, 2004 - Malik and Bagri's defense begins. October 19, 2004 - Closing arguments begin. December 4th, 2004 - The judge presiding over the Air India Trial, Justice Ian Josephson says the verdict will be delivered March 16th 2005. What Did The Canadian Government Know?There are allegations that CSIS interfered in the investigation by destroying hundreds of wiretaps, either to protect the identity of their mole in the terrorist group or to deflect criticism of their inaction seeing as they were tracking the principle suspects before the bombing ever took place.
Of the 210 wiretaps that were recorded during the months before and after the bombing, 156 were erased. These tapes continued to be erased even after the terrorists had become the primary suspects in the bombing.
CSIS claims the wiretaps contained no relevant information but a memo from the RCMP states that The Canadian government had been warned by the Indian government about the possibility of terrorist bombs aboard Air India flights in Canada. And over two weeks before the crash CSIS reported to the RCMP that the potential threat to Air India as well as Indian missions in Canada, was high. [3] (http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/airindia/documents/tab3.pdf) CSIS agents had also followed Talwinder Parmar and Inderjit Reyat to woods near Duncan, British Columbia and reported to the RCMP that they had heard a noise like a "loud gunshot" in the woods. After the bombing the RCMP went to the site and found remains of an electrical blasting cap. [4] (http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/airindia/documents/tab3.pdf) The suspects in the bombing were either aware of or at the least suspicious of the possibility of their being under surveillance, using pay phones and talking in code on the phone. Translator's notes of the wiretaps records this exchange between Talwinder Parmar and a follower named Hardial Singh Johal on the same day the tickets were purchased. [5] (http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/airindia/documents/tab6.pdf)
After this call a man calls the CP Air and books the tickets and leaves Johal's number. Shortly after Johal calls Parmar and asks him if he "can come over and read the story he asked for". Parmar says he will be there shortly. This conversation would appear to be an order from Parmar to book the tickets used to bomb the planes, however CSIS allegedly erased the original wiretaps and such transcriptions and/or translations are not useful as evidence in court in the absence of the original recordings. To this day the Canadian government continues to insist there was no mole involved. Several groups and Canadian politicians have called for a public inquiry but the Canadian government has refused at least until the trial is over. See also
External links
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
Copyright 2008 WordIQ.com - Privacy Policy
::
Terms of Use
:: Contact Us
:: About Us This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Air India Trial". |