Drafting Of Final Report Into Air India Bombing Completed
Posted July 28, 2009 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A Commission of Inquiry into the investigation of the bombing of an Air India flight in 1985 has completed drafting its final report.
But the Commission said in a statement Tuesday there is much work remaining before the report is submitted to the prime minister. That work includes editing, translation, submission for a National Security Review and formatting before it can be sent for printing.
The bombing of the aircraft off the Irish coast killed 329 people, including 280 Canadians, making it the largest mass murder in Canadian history.
The flight originated in Toronto and had stopped at Montreal before heading to London and Bombay.
Fifteen years after the bombing, on Oct. 27, 2000, the RCMP arrested two men on 329 counts of first-degree murder.
Nearly five years later, on March 16, 2005, a B.C. Supreme Court judge found Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri not guilty on all counts.
The commission says the report will be published in five volumes and the pre-publication work “will be completed as expeditiously as possible.”
Air India Recap
WHEN: June 23, 1985.
HOW IT BEGAN: Boeing 747 Air India Flight 182 to New Delhi and Mumbai originating in Vancouver leaves Toronto, picks up passengers in Montreal. 329 people on board. Most passengers Canadians of Indian descent.
WHAT HAPPENED: Plane explodes over Ireland’s southwest coast, killing all aboard.
CAUSE: Plane was brought down by a bomb.
SECOND BOMB: About an hour before the blast, an explosion in luggage at Tokyo’s Narita airport kills two baggage handlers. The bag was being transferred to another Air India flight.
SUSPECTS: Bombing linked to militants in British Columbia’s Sikh community outraged over actions of India’s government. Police link the Narita and Air India blasts.
CONVICTION: Inderjit Singh Reyat, an electrician from the Vancouver Island community of Duncan, convicted of manslaughter in 1991 in the Narita bombing and served 10 years in prison. Charged in 2001 in the Air India bombing, Reyat pleaded guilty Feb. 10, 2003, to one count of manslaughter and was sentenced to five years in prison, in addition to time already spent in custody.
ACQUITTED: Ajaib Singh Bagri, 55, sawmill worker from Kamloops, B.C., and Ripudaman Singh Malik, 58, millionaire Vancouver businessman, on multiple counts, including first-degree murder and conspiracy.
Air India Timeline
June 5, 1984: Sikhs around the world are outraged after India’s government orders a raid on Sikhism’s holiest shrine, the Golden Temple in Amritsar.
June 5, 1984: Sikhs around the world are outraged after India’s government orders a raid on Sikhism’s holiest shrine, the Golden Temple in Amritsar.
Oct. 30, 1984: Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is assassinated by her Sikh body guards in retaliation. Thousands of Sikhs die in riots in Indian cities.
June 23, 1985: Air India Flight 182 leaves Toronto and explodes near Ireland, killing 329 people — 278 of them Canadians. Less than one hour before the blast, two baggage handlers at Tokyo’s Narita airport are killed when a bag explodes as it is being transferred to an Air India flight.
Nov. 8, 1985: Talwinder Singh Parmar and Inderjit Singh Reyat are arrested by RCMP in connection with bombings. Charges are dropped against Parmar. Reyat is fined for a minor, unrelated charge.
Jan. 22, 1986: Canadian Aviation Safety Board says a bomb brought down the jet.
Feb. 4, 1986: India also concludes a bomb brought down the jet.
February 1988: Reyat is arrested by police in Coventry, England, where he moved with his wife and children in 1986.
Dec. 8, 1989: British authorities sign an extradition order for Reyat following a lengthy court battle.
May 10, 1991: Reyat, an electrician from the Vancouver Island community of Duncan, is sentenced to 10 years in prison on manslaughter and explosives charges related to the Narita bombing.
1992: Bombing suspect Parmar, a preacher from Burnaby, B.C., is killed in a shootout with Indian police officers. Critics say he was arrested and executed.
May 1995: RCMP offer a one million dollar reward for help catching the bombers.
April 1997: National Parole Board panel denies Reyat parole.
February 1998: RCMP Insp. Gary Bass, head of the Air India probe, says in a letter that investigators will recommend charges against Reyat and others.
March 7, 1998: National Parole Board panel denies Reyat early release.
Oct. 27, 2000: Ajaib Singh Bagri and Ripudaman Singh Malik are arrested and charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder and conspiracy.
June 4, 2001: British government grants permission for Reyat to be charged in Air India blast.
June 6, 2001: Reyat is charged in Air India Flight 182 bombing just days before his 10-year sentence for his role in the Narita bombing is up. He remains in custody.
Feb. 10, 2003: Reyat pleads guilty to one count of manslaughter and is sentenced to five years.
April 28, 2003: Bagri and Malik are set to go on trial before a judge alone in B.C. Supreme Court.
November 2003: Star witness against Malik testifies the accused confessed his involvement in the bombing on at least two occasions. She testifies he confided in her because the two were in love.
December 2003: Crown shows a videotaped speech by Bagri who called for young Sikhs to rise up and take revenge against the Indian government. “Until we kill 50,000 Hindus, we will not rest,” he shouted at a July 1984 New York rally.
February 2004: A female friend of Bagri’s is dismissed from testifying after she says repeatedly she can’t recall the most basic details of her relationship with him. Authorities said she had told them Bagri came to her house on the eve of the terrorist attack to borrow her car to leave luggage at the airport. She refused.
May 2004: Crown wrapped its case.
June 2004: Defence testimony began.
Dec. 3, 2004: Crown and defence rest in bloodiest Canadian terror case. The trial is believed to be among the most expensive and longest this country has seen.
March 16, 2005: B.C. Supreme Court Justice Ian Josephson acquits Malik and Bagri, saying he found the main witnesses in the case not credible.
January 6: Reyat is charged with perjury on his testimony at the trial.
May 1: Prime Minister Stephen Harper confirms he’ll call an Air India inquiry to find out what really happened and whether the investigation was botched. Retired Justice John Major is tapped to head it.
Sept 25: Inquiry begins in Ottawa with testimony from the families of victims.
June 23, 2006: Construction begins at Humber Park for a
waterfront memorial to the victims.
September 2006: The surviving family members of the Air India bombing in 1985 got their chance to speak their piece in Ottawa, as the official inquiry into the worst terror attack in Canadian history got under way.
September 2006: Rescue workers begin their testimony.
October 2006: Allegations of racism surface at inquiry.
“That is the fact that, if it had been an Air Canada plane and Anglo-Saxons, things would have been different,” former Supreme Court judge and inquiry head John Major speculated.
May 2007: Lt.-Governor tries to explain why he didn’t come forward sooner in Air India tragedy.
May 2007: Air India Inquiry: Cost May Have Prevented Full-Scale Baggage Search
May 2007: Canadian spy agency may have known attack was coming.
June 2007: Air India memorial unveiled in Toronto.
September 2007: Air India commissioner says sealed documents are stalling the inquiry.
September 2007: Air India inquiry enters final stage with questions about wiretap deletions.
July 12, 2008: Bail conditions are revealed for the only man convicted in the bombing. Inderjit Singh Reyat had been behind bars for over twenty years. Reyat raised $500,000 before he could be released from prison pending his trial on a charge of perjury.
