Air India families wait for answers 25 years later

Vancouver: Dozens of family members of the victims of the Air India bombing will mark Thursday as the 25th anniversary of the explosion and the day when a long-anticipated inquiry reports its findings.
But for one man, the day will be just like any other.
Ajaib Singh Bagri, who was acquitted after a year-long trial five years ago, told the Star he has no interest in what the report finds.
John Major, a former Supreme Court justice, was appointed in May 2006 to investigate the bombing of Flight 182, which went down off the coast of Ireland.
All 329 passengers and crew on the Montreal-to-Delhi flight were killed. Fifteen years after the bombing, two men, Ripudaman Singh Malik and Bagri, were charged with 329 counts of first-degree murder.
In 2005, a B.C. Supreme Court judge found Malik, a Vancouver businessman and Bagri, a Kamloops, B.C., mill worker, not guilty of first-degree murder.
Major was appointed after family members of the Air India victims pressed for an inquiry into the failures before and after the explosion.
The final report comprises more than 4,000 pages. More than 200 witnesses testified during the four-year-long inquiry.
In addition to the passengers and crew killed, two baggage handlers at the Tokyo airport were also killed the same day after a bomb intended for another Air India flight went off early.
The only person successfully convicted in the Air India bombing was Inderjit Singh Reyat, who pleaded guilty in 2003 to manslaughter after admitting to making the bombs. He was released in 2008 and is out on bail but will be back in court in September for perjury charges related to his testimony during the Air India trial.
15/06/10 Petti Fong/The Star.com

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Categories: Air India - International Jun 2010, Foreign Jun 2010, NACIL Jun 2010, Safety Jun 2010