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Home  » News » Kanishka case: Intelligence report throws new light

Kanishka case: Intelligence report throws new light

By Ajit Jain in Toronto
June 03, 2003 01:51 IST
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A report by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), based on their surveillance of accused Ripudaman Singh Malik and mastermind Talwinder Singh Parmar, revealed the two were together the day before plane reservations were made for the doomed Air India flight.

It was further revealed in the British Columbia Supreme Court that Malik was seen in conversation with Parmar and another man on June 18, 1985, at Parmar's Vancouver house. 

According to these surveillance tapes, second accused Ajaib Singh Bagri's car was seen at Parmar's house on June 21, 1985, the day before two bags, each alleged to have had a bomb inside, were checked onto two planes -- one an Air India plane and the other a Cathay Pacific aircraft.

The prosecution alleged that Malik and Bagri were part of a conspiracy seeking revenge against the Government of India for Operation Blue Star. 

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police have identified Parmar as the mastermind of this conspiracy, a prime suspect in the death of 329 people. 

It is now five weeks since the hearing before British Columbia Supreme Court Judge Bruce Josephson began in a specially constructed state-of-the-art courthouse, but so far there is no evidence directly implicating Malik and Bagri. 

The evidence that was revealed last week showed that Parmar was put under surveillance in the spring of 1985. Then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was visiting the Untied States and there were concerns about his safety. 

CSIS agents saw Malik's car outside Parmar's house on May 21, 1985, but didn't see Malik that time. 

They also saw Bagri at Vancouver airport on June 9 with Parmar. 

The prosecution also alleges that two pieces of luggage, each containing a bomb, were then checked on flights leaving Vancouver airport on June 22.

Bagri and Malik are both charged with the death of 329 people in an explosion aboard Air India flight over North Atlantic on June 23, 1985.  Two baggage handlers were also killed in an explosion in a suitcase that was being off loaded from the Cathay Pacific Airlines plane almost the same time as the disintegration of Air India Boeing 747.

Complete Coverage: The Kanishka Bombing

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Ajit Jain in Toronto