Vancouver, June 5
British Home Secretary Jack Straw has given permission to Canada to prosecute Inderjit Singh
Reyat, a suspect in the 1985 bombing of Air India Flight 182, which killed 329 passengers, a Canadian official said.“The British granted us consent to prosecute Reyat for certain offences,” Geoffrey Gaul, a spokesman for the British Columbia attorney general’s office, said yesterday.
“We currently have two individuals charged. We intend to add
Reyat. Once that happens, we intend to continue with the prosecution,” he said.
Reyat, who is already serving a 10-year term in a Vancouver-area prison for a bomb blast in Tokyo’s Narita airport that killed two baggage carriers, will be indicted before his jail term ends this week.
“Reyat will be charged prior to his release from prison,” Mr Gaul said adding that “once we file the new charges, he will remain in custody.”
The Narita blast is widely believed to be related to the Air India bombing, considered to be the deadliest in the history of air terrorism. Both blasts
occurred hours apart.
Millionaire businessman Ripudaman Singh Malik, (53) and sawmill worker Ajaib Singh Bagri, (51) were charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in October last in connection with the Air India bomb blast, off the coast of Ireland on June 23, 1985, which killed all 329, most of them Canadians, on board.
Their trial, considered as one of the most complex in Canadian legal history is expected to begin in February and last at least eight months.
Mr Gaul said there was still a possibility that Reyat would seek bail.
The police believes that the two blasts were linked and that the bombs were hidden in luggage on flights that originated in Vancouver. The Narita blast happened an hour before the Air India Flight 182 disappeared from radar on June 23, 1985. The bomb was kept in luggage destined for second plane, Air India 301.
Bagri was arrested from
Kamloops, British Colombia, while Malik was arrested from Vancouver on October 27 last, and are still in jail, pending trial.
PTI
