The only person convicted in the 1985 Air India bombings that killed 331 people is now free, Canada’s parole board said Wednesday.
Inderjit Singh Reyat had been ordered to live at a halfway house following his release from prison one year ago, after serving two decades behind bars.
That condition has now been lifted and Reyat may return to a normal life, including ‘living in a private residence,’ parole board spokesman Patrick Storey told AFP in an email.
Air India Flight 182 was an Air India flight operating on the Toronto–Montreal–London–Delhi route and was destroyed by a bomb at an altitude of 9,400 m. It crashed into the Atlantic Ocean while flying in Irish airspace. A total of 329 people were killed, including 268 Canadian citizens, 27 Britons and 24 Indians.The incident was the largest mass murder in Canadian history.It was the deadliest terrorist attack involving an aeroplane until the September 11, 2001, attacks.It is believed that the main suspects in the bombing were members of the Sikh militant group Babbar Khalsa.The attack came against the backdrop of Operation Blue Star, the Indian army’s campaign to flush out several hundred Sikh militants occupying the Golden temple.Inderjit Singh Reyat, a Canadian national, remains the only person convicted of involvement in the bombing.Singh pleaded guilty in 2003 to manslaughter. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison for building the bombs that exploded aboard Flight 182 and at Narita.
The Sikh immigrant from India was convicted of making bombs that were stuffed into luggage and planted on two planes leaving Vancouver, and of lying in court to cover for his co-accused.
One bomb tore apart Air India Flight 182 as it neared the coast of Ireland, killing all 329 people aboard, including entire families.
The second exploded at Japan’s Narita airport, killing two baggage handlers as they transferred cargo to another Air India plane.
The blasts followed a crackdown on Sikhs fighting for an independent homeland, and those behind it were allegedly seeking revenge for the storming of the Golden Temple in Amritsar by Indian troops.
Reyat was working as a mechanic in westernmost Canada and purchased the dynamite, batteries and detonators used to construct the bombs.
Two alleged co-conspirators were acquitted due to a lack of evidence and, according to prosecutors, because of Reyat’s perjury.
Storey said Reyat’s parole officer has assessed those with whom he will live ‘to ensure they will not have a negative influence on him.’
Conditions of his release from prison also still apply, including having no contact with the victims’ families nor with extremists.
Reyat must also shun all political activities and take counseling for violent tendencies, a lack of empathy and exaggerated beliefs.
Join GhanaStar.com to receive daily email alerts of breaking news in Ghana. GhanaStar.com is your source for all Ghana News. Get the latest Ghana news, breaking news, sports, politics, entertainment and more about Ghana, Africa and beyond.