2 Air India suspects found not guilty

Last=20 Updated Wed, 16 Mar 2005 14:09:43 EST=20

VANCOUVER - A judge has found millionaire Sikh businessman = Ripudaman=20 Singh Malik and millworker Ajaib Singh Bagri not guilty of = conspiracy and=20 murder in the 1985 Air India bombing that killed 329 people.=20

The men were also acquitted on charges related to a separate = bomb that=20 killed two Japanese baggage handlers the same day.=20

INDEPTH: Air=20 India

Justice Ian Bruce Josephson of the British Columbia Supreme = Court began=20 reading the verdict at 1 p.m. EST.=20

Almost one hour into the reading of his verdict, Josephson said = he=20 simply did not believe the testimony of witnesses who linked Malik = to the=20 two bombs. He called them inconsistent and said they surfaced too = late to=20 be credible, though he accepted the Crown's theory that there was = a=20 conspiracy to bring down Air India flights.=20

Gasps could be heard throughout the high-security courtroom as=20 Josephson pronounced Malik not guilty in a decision that stunned = members=20 of the Indo-Canadian community.

=20

Ripudaman=20 Singh Malik (file photo) =

"There are no answers for the relatives of the people who lost = their=20 lives, or for the Canadian people," Sarwan Singh Randhawa of the = Khalsa=20 Diwan Society said outside the courtroom minutes before Bagri was = also=20 found not guilty.

"They don't know who did it...Who is behind this horrible = crime?"

He said there should be a public inquiry on the investigation = and=20 prosecution.

FEEDBACK: Send=20 us your thoughts

Perviz Madon's husband Sam died when Air India Flight 182 = blew up=20 on June 23, 1985, sending bodies and debris into the Atlantic = Ocean in=20 what was then the worst act of terrorism in the world's history.=20

She said before the verdict that she's been waiting for this = day for 20=20 years.

"Whichever way it goes, that's the way it's going to be and we = have to=20 brace ourselves," Madon said.

"There is always going to be a void in my life, even if I live = to be=20 100," she added. "I will always miss Sam and always be angry that = he was=20 taken away from me."=20

FROM DEC. 3, 2004: Air=20 India verdict due next March

Many Vancouver-area passengers connected with Flight 182 as it = left=20 Toronto just after midnight on June 22, 1985, en route to Mumbai, = by way=20 of Montreal and London.

Susheel Gupta was 12 when his mother Ramwati boarded the = flight,=20 excited at the thought of visiting her relatives in India.

"She never came back," he said. "It was never her intention to = not come=20 back. I can never recover from that."

Bagri and Malik had been on trial since April 28, 2003, in a = proceeding=20 that has cost more than $100 million. The cost of the = investigation brings=20 the bill so far to about $130 million.

They were charged with first-degree murder over the death of = 329 people=20 as well as a variety of other charges connected with the bomb that = blew up=20 Air India Flight 182.

They were also accused of causing a separate bombing at Tokyo's = Narita=20 airport. Two baggage handlers died just 54 minutes before Flight = 182=20 exploded when a bomb went off inside a suitcase they were = transferring to=20 another Air India plane, Flight 301.=20

INDEPTH: Air = India=20 victims' names and ages

The men were also charged with conspiring to murder the = passengers on=20 Flight 301.=20

Crown prosecutors alleged the bombings were an act of vengeance = against=20 the government of India following a 1984 raid on the Golden Temple = at=20 Amritsar, the holiest shrine for Sikhs.=20

Men were leaders in B.C. Sikh community

Bagri, now 55, was a Kamloops mill worker and well-known Sikh = preacher=20 at the time of his arrest.

"We will kill 50,000 Hindus," he told a Sikh rally at Madison = Square=20 Garden in New York City not long after the Amritsar raid.

Malik, now 58, was a millionaire who owned a clothing company = in Surrey=20 and had a hand in many Sikh institutions in that community.

The star witness in the criminal trial was a woman who was in = love with=20 Malik. She testified that he told her: "We had Air India crash." = Fearing=20 for her life, she is now in a witness protection program.

=20

Ajaib Singh=20 Bagri (file photo) =

The mastermind of the plot was thought to be Vancouver's = Talwinder=20 Singh Parmar. He died in a 1992 shootout with police in India. =

Another member of the group, Inderjit Singh Reyat, has already = served=20 jail time in connection with the bombings.

He pleaded guilty to one count of manslaughter and a charge of = aiding=20 in the construction of a bomb over the downing of Flight 182, = drawing a=20 five-year sentence in 2003. He had previously been sentenced to 10 = years=20 on explosives and manslaughter charges over the deaths of the two = Japanese=20 baggage handlers.=20

Appeals likely whatever the verdict

Wednesday's verdict may not be the end of the legal process. =

Some family members are renewing their calls for a public = inquiry into=20 how CSIS and the RCMP handled the investigation.

They cite the delay in laying charges, as well as the fact that = key=20 tapes containing hundreds of hours of wiretapped conversation had = been=20 erased before the case came to trial.

Some of the tapes, containing conversations between Parmar and = Sikh=20 informants, were destroyed because a former CSIS agent feared = their=20 identity would be revealed. Others were erased, possibly without = ever=20 being listened to, because the agency routinely destroys such = tapes after=20 a specific period of time.

The fact that some conversations were taped three months before = the day=20 of the bombings led some relatives to wonder if the tragedy might = have=20 been prevented with better intelligence work.

They are also upset at the revelation that agents following = Parmar and=20 Reyat into a forested area on Vancouver Island three weeks before = the=20 bombing heard a loud bang in the distance.=20

The two men were conducting a test explosion to make sure their = bombs=20 would work, the Crown later suggested in court.

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