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

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

Justice Ian Bruce Josephson of the British Columbia Supreme Court said he simply did not believe the testimony of witnesses who linked the men to the two bombs. Calling them inconsistent, he said the accounts surfaced too late to be credible.

Ajaib Singh Bagri and his daughter answer questions after the verdict in Vancouver, Wednesday.
Ajaib Singh Bagri and his daughter answer questions after the verdict in Vancouver, Wednesday.

He did, however, accept the Crown's theory that there was a conspiracy to bring down two Air India flights by planting bombs in suitcases that were placed on planes leaving the Vancouver airport.

Malik, Bagri issue statements

Malik did not speak as he left the courthouse and climbed into a waiting car. His family posted a statement reacting to the ruling on a website called www.notguilty.org, however.

Ripudaman Singh Malik (file photo)
Ripudaman Singh Malik (file photo)

"Our family deeply sympathizes with the families of those that died in this horrific tragedy," it said. "The anger and sadness that the families are going through because of today's decision should be directed towards the RCMP and Crown. They had given these families a false hope of justice by proceeding with a case without merit."

Speaking through a statement read by his youngest daughter, Bagri expressed relief at being free after four and a half years in jail.

"I have been accused of horrendous crimes," he said. "But I want to repeat publicly today, and have told the authorities numerous times since 1985, that I had absolutely no involvement in any of these criminal activities."

British Columbia's attorney general, Geoff Plant, said the Crown will examine the 609-page judgement for errors of law before deciding whether to appeal Josephson's decision. It has 30 days to do so.

Relatives left shocked and angry

Gasps and sobs could be heard throughout the high-security courtroom as relatives and friends of the victims absorbed the decision.

"This was not an answer that we hoped to hear," Ottawa lawyer Susheel Gupta said a short time later, still visibly angry.

He was 12 when he lost his mother, Ramwati Gupta, as Flight 182 blew up on June 23, 1985. The early morning blast sent bodies and debris into the Atlantic Ocean off Ireland in what was then the worst act of terrorism in the world's history.

Gupta's demand for a probe into the RCMP and CSIS investigation of the case was echoed by other members of the Indo-Canadian community.

"There are no answers for the relatives of the people who lost their lives, or for the Canadian people," said Sarwan Singh Randhawa of the Khalsa Diwan Society.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Men were leaders in B.C. Sikh community

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

On Wednesday, the judge labelled the woman's testimony unbelievable, given that she said she still loved and respected him while testifying against him.

"That surprise edges toward incredulity," Josephson said, pointing out how strong and intelligent the unnamed woman appeared to be in court.

"She has not been truthful with court and I am unable to rely on her evidence."

The defence had painted her as a disgruntled former employee who was taking revenge against Malik.

RCMP vows to keep working on case

Despite the verdict, RCMP spokesman Sgt. John Ward said the force intends to continue working on a case that has already cost the RCMP $45 million.

"Police work is not easy. It is not done in 60 minutes as we see on television," he told reporters.

"We are very disappointed today. However our disappointment is not something that stands in the way of our investigation... We'll take the time it takes to get this thing done."

Ward said 15 officers are still working full-time on the case.