A defence witness with severe credibility problems has begun testifying at the Air India trial in Vancouver.

Daljit Sandhu, a well-known Sikh leader and former temple president, was named by a Crown witness as the man who picked up the tickets for the Air India bombing.

On the witness stand, Sandhu flatly denied that he had anything to do with the tickets or the bombing. In fact, he said, he never supported violence. But CBC footage from 1989 tells a different story.

Daljit Sandhu

At a demonstration outside the Vancouver Art Gallery in support of two Sikhs hanged for the assassination of Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, with one of the accused Air India bombers, Ajaib Singh Bagri listening, Sandhu praised the two assassins.

"We congratulate those families who have produced such martyrs." Later, Sandhu went further, explicitly endorsing the murder. "They did a job and nobody else could do it ... we are proud of their actions, their families are proud," he said.

The statements directly contradict what Sandhu said under oath about not endorsing violence.

Sandhu also often spoke up for the convicted bombmaker in this case, Inderjit Singh Reyat. Under oath on Tuesday, Sandhu said he met Reyat a couple of times, but otherwise had no connection with him.

Again, the CBC archives contradict him.

"Inderjit Singh Reyat is not that kind of person. I know that person for more than 15 years and a person like that would not do that kind of thing and I still believe he is innocent," said Sandhu in a 1991 interview, claiming Reyat as an old friend.

In the old footage Sandhu wears his beard in a net. An airline clerk has testified that the man who picked up the tickets for the doomed Air India flight wore his beard in a net. During his testimony Sandhu wore his beard without a net.

The witness also testified the man wore a ring. Sandhu said he never, ever had a ring.

That led to a heated cross- examination with the prosecution accusing Sandhu of lying and of trying to intimidate a Crown witness. Sandhu denied the allegations.

Sandhu had been scheduled to testify last week but his appearance was delayed after he suffered a mild heart attack.

Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri are on trial in B.C. Supreme Court, charged with killing 331 people in two separate bombings on the same day in June 1985. One bomb killed 329 people onboard Air India Flight 182, most of them Canadians. The other bomb killed two baggage handlers at Tokyo's Narita Airport.

The trial continues.