Why even after 39 years of Kanishka bombing Canada continues to 'probe' and there's no closure

39 years ago, the world was shaken by one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in the history of civil aviation. Air India Flight 182, traveling from Canada to India with a stopover in London, exploded mid-air off the coast of Ireland. All 329 passengers and crew aboard were killed in the tragedy. The explosion was caused by a bomb concealed in a suitcase, which was loaded onto the aircraft even though the person who checked in the luggage did not board the flight.

Investigations by Canadian and Indian authorities concluded that the Air India Flight 182 bombing was orchestrated by Khalistani terrorists based in Canada, under the guidance of operatives active in Punjab. The extremist group Babbar Khalsa was identified as the mastermind behind the attack. The bombings were deemed an act of retaliation for Operation Blue Star in 1984, where the Indian military stormed the Golden Temple in Punjab to flush out terrorists.

Despite the passage of many years, the families of the victims continue to seek justice. Here, we provide a detailed account of the case, the subsequent investigations, and the ongoing trials.

Target: 2 Air India flights — IC 182 and IC 301

The Montreal-New Delhi Air India ‘Kanishka’ Flight 182 exploded just 45 minutes before its scheduled landing at London’s Heathrow Airport. Earlier that same day, another bomb detonated inside Tokyo’s Narita airport terminal. The explosive device had been checked onto a Canadian Pacific Airlines flight in Vancouver, intended for transfer to Air India Flight 301 bound for Bangkok. This bomb exploded prematurely during the transfer process, killing two Japanese baggage handlers and later investigations established that the case was related. It was known as the Kanishka case.

Bombs: In suitcases/baggage & explosion

On June 22, 1985, a man identified as Manjit Singh checked in for a Canadian Pacific (CP) flight from Vancouver to Toronto at 3:30 p.m. UTC. He requested the agent to ensure his suitcase would be transferred to Air India Flight 182, which was scheduled to depart from Montreal the next day. Despite initial hesitation, because Singh’s seat on the CP flight was not confirmed, the agent eventually allowed the bag to be checked through.

On June 23, 1985, at 12:15 a.m., Air India Flight 182 took off from Toronto, heading to Montreal. After leaving Montreal, the flight continued towards Heathrow Airport in London, with a final destination in Ireland. The plane carried 329 individuals on board: 307 passengers and 22 crew members. Simultaneously, another one identified as “L. Singh” checked in for a CP flight from Vancouver to Tokyo, bringing one piece of luggage. This luggage was supposed to be transferred to Air India Flight 301, bound for Bangkok.

A suitcase containing a bomb had been checked into the CP flight in Vancouver to be placed on Air India Flight 301 to Bangkok. However, the bomb exploded prematurely while being transferred to the aircraft in Tokyo, killing two Japanese baggage handlers.

Investigators determined that the bomb intended for Flight 301 detonated prematurely because the perpetrators failed to account for Japan’s non-observance of daylight saving time. Less than an hour after the Tokyo explosion, at 7:14 a.m., Air India Flight 182 disappeared from radar screens off the west coast of Ireland. A bomb hidden in a suitcase on board had exploded, causing the plane to break apart at an altitude of 31,000 feet over the Atlantic Ocean.

Prime accused

Talwinder Singh Parmar: Talwinder Singh Parmar is alleged to have been the mastermind behind the bombing of Air India Flight 182, known as the Kanishka bombing. Hailing from Punjab, Parmar was a prominent member of the Babbar Khalsa, a terrorist organization based in Punjab. Operating from outside India, he was responsible for the funding operations of Babbar Khalsa. During his time abroad, Parmar established extensive connections with terrorists and other disaffected elements in Nepal and the eastern corridor of India.

After returning to India, Parmar developed differences with Sukhdev Singh Dassuwal, the chief of Babbar Khalsa International, over operational strategies and was expelled from the organization in early 1992. Following his expulsion, Parmar founded a splinter group, Babbar Khalsa International (Parmar). Parmar was later killed by the Punjab Police in 1992.

Ajaib Singh Bagri: Ajaib Singh Bagri, a mill worker currently residing in Kamloops, British Columbia, has been identified as a key lieutenant to Talwinder Singh Parmar, the alleged mastermind behind the Kanishka bombing. Bagri is suspected to have played a significant role in fundraising for the Parmar faction of Babbar Khalsa, a terrorist organization. During his extended stay in Canada, Bagri cultivated close relationships with influential figures, which enabled him to maintain Babbar Khalsa’s status as a non-profit organization.

In the mid-1990s, Canadian media reports about Bagri’s connections to terrorism prompted federal authorities to revoke Babbar Khalsa’s non-profit status. Recently, reports have emerged that Bagri registered around 200 new members for the British Columbia Liberals to challenge Gur Singh of the moderate faction. Bagri has also faced charges in connection with the 1988 attempted murder of Tara Singh Hayer, a Canadian Sikh journalist and editor of the Indo-Canadian Times. Hayer, a vocal critic of the Kanishka bombing suspects, survived the 1988 attack but was subsequently assassinated in 1998.

Inderjit Singh Reyat: An electrician, Inderjit Singh Reyat, was arrested in England on multiple charges, including weapons, explosives, and conspiracy. He was charged for making the bomb that detonated at Tokyo’s Narita Airport. The investigation revealed that the explosive device had been ingeniously concealed inside a Sanyo radio tuner. Tracing the origins of the radio, officers discovered it had been purchased by Reyat from a store in his hometown of Duncan, British Columbia.

Ripudaman Singh Malik: In 2000, police arrested Ripudaman Singh Malik, a wealthy Vancouver businessman on a number of charges including mass murder and conspiracy.

The investigations

Following the tragic Air India Flight 182 bombing, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) launched extensive investigations into the disaster. Early on, the RCMP conducted raids on the homes of Talwinder Singh Parmar and Inderjit Singh Reyat, arresting them on various weapons, explosives, and conspiracy charges. While police connected these arrests to the Air India bombing, the charges against Parmar were soon dropped due to insufficient evidence.

Inderjit Singh Reyat was convicted of unrelated weapons offenses and fined $2,000, with no proven connection to the Air India case established in court at that time.

Canadian investigators have long asserted that the bombings were orchestrated by Sikh separatists as retaliation for the Indian Army’s deadly 1984 assault on the Golden Temple in Punjab. Parmar, the leader of the extremist group Babbar Khalsa, and Reyat, an electrician, were central figures in this investigation. Although Parmar was arrested, the lack of concrete evidence led to his release. Investigators later identified Parmar, who was killed by police in India in 1992, as the primary mastermind behind the attack.

The aftermath of the bombing saw Canadian authorities criticized for failing to prevent the attack and for their handling of the investigation. These criticisms culminated in a public inquiry, initiated by the Canadian government in 2006 and led by a former Supreme Court judge. The inquiry, which concluded in 2010, highlighted a “cascading series of errors” that contributed to what it called the “largest mass murder in Canadian history.”

The inquiry revealed that months before the bombing, an unidentified witness had alerted Canadian police to a plot to destroy a plane, a warning that was tragically not acted upon.

According to BCC, in 2000, a former Canadian secret services officer told a newspaper that he destroyed tapes with 150 hours of telephone calls made by Sikh suspects instead of handing them over to the RCMP as he feared it could reveal the identity of the informants.

A never ending trail

The British government granted Canada permission to charge Inderjit Singh Reyat in connection with the Air India bombing. Subsequently, Reyat faced formal charges for murder, attempted murder, and conspiracy in both the Air India bombing and the explosion at Narita Airport.

In 2000, the investigation took another significant turn when police arrested Ripudaman Singh Malik, a wealthy businessman from Vancouver, and Ajaib Singh Bagri, a mill worker from British Columbia. Both men were charged with multiple counts, including mass murder and conspiracy. However, after an extensive and costly trial that spanned nearly two years, they were acquitted in 2005. The judge cited factual inaccuracies and credibility issues with key witnesses as the basis for their acquittal. The verdict shocked many, leaving victims’ families devastated and in tears in the courtroom.

In the wake of the acquittal, opposition MPs demanded an inquiry into allegations that the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) had obstructed the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) investigation into the bombing.

In a dramatic turn during the trial, an FBI informant testified on March 1, 2004, that Bagri had confessed to his involvement in the bombings shortly after they happened, stating, “We did this.” However, the reliability of testimony was repeatedly challenged. One key Crown witness, whose identity remained protected, struggled to recall details of a visit with Bagri that was captured on CSIS surveillance tapes, responding “I can’t remember” more than 20 times in a single hour of testimony.

As the trial progressed into its closing arguments on October 19, 2004, the defense for Malik and Bagri vehemently argued their clients’ innocence, asserting they had no involvement in the bombings of Air India Flight 182 or the incident at Tokyo’s Narita Airport. On March 16, 2005, Justice Ian Josephson of the B.C. Supreme Court acquitted both men, emphasizing that the Crown’s key witnesses, who claimed to have heard the defendants confess, were deemed biased and unreliable.

RCMP documents also suggested that CSIS had ordered the destruction of wiretap recordings to hide the involvement of one of its agents, Surjan Singh Gill, who had infiltrated a group of Sikh extremists plotting the attack. Gill was allegedly instructed to withdraw from the operation just three days before Air India Flight 182 was bombed. According to various reports, a pivotal Crown witness testified that Malik had confessed to her about his role in the bombing. This witness detailed how she and Malik had developed a romantic relationship in the early 1990s, which brought her closer to the unfolding events surrounding the investigation.

In 2016, Reyat was released from a Canadian prison after serving two-thirds of a nine-year sentence - the next year, he was also allowed to leave a halfway house and live where he wanted to, a decision some experts criticised.

In 2022, Ripudaman Singh Malik was shot dead in his car in Surrey, British Columbia in what police described as a targeted killing - they arrested two men on charges of first-degree murder. Their motive isn’t clear.

After trial inquiry

The Canadian government established an inquiry panel in 2006 following public outrage and demands for justice. The inquiry committee led by retired Supreme Court of Canada Justice John C. Major

Four years later, in 2010, Justice Major released his final report, which sharply criticized the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) for their mishandling of the investigation into the Air India bombing. The inquiry identified Talwinder Singh Parmar as the mastermind behind the tragic explosion of Air India Flight 182, which killed 329 people.

Following the release of the report, then Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued a public apology to the families of the victims. He acknowledged that their “legitimate need for answers and, indeed, for empathy, were treated with administrative disdain” for many years. Harper’s apology was a significant moment of acknowledgment for the victims’ families, who had long felt neglected and overlooked by the authorities.

Despite the decades that have passed since the bombing, the Canadian police reiterated on Saturday that their investigation into the Air India Flight 182 bombing remains “active and ongoing.” They described it as the “longest” and one of the “most complex domestic terrorism” investigations in Canadian history. This announcement came ahead of the 39th-anniversary memorial of the deadly bombing, underscoring the continued commitment to seeking justice for the victims and their families.

What happened to the Kanishka bombers?

Talwinder Singh Parmar — the mastermind of the bombing was shot dead in 1992 in Mumbai (then called Bombay). Some media reports said he had been in police custody before the said gun-battle that killed him.

Inderjit Singh Reyat — Sentenced initially for five years but after the Justice Major panel report, his jail term was increased to 30 years for perjury. He was released in 2016.

Ripudaman Singh Malik — was killed in July 2022 in Canada. His assailants were identified as Tanner Fox and Jose Lopez.

Ajaib Singh Bagri — was acquitted from all charges in 2016