Monday marks the 40th anniversary of the terrorist attack that destroyed Air India Flight 182.
The deadliest terrorist attack in Canadian history would result in a trial that cost almost $60 million, a federal investigation report and a commission of inquiry. But only one suspect was ever convicted.
THE CASUALTIES
All 307 passengers and 22 crew aboard Flight 182 were killed on June 23, 1985. About an hour earlier, two baggage handlers also died when another bomb planted in the same conspiracy exploded at Narita Airport in Japan.
THE SUSPECTS
Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri were acquitted of mass murder and conspiracy in 2005 after a two-year trial in Vancouver. In 2022, Malik was shot dead in Surrey, B.C., by two paid hit men, whose motives have never been made public.
Inderjit Singh Reyat was convicted of manslaughter in 1991 in the Narita bombing. In 2003, he pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the bombing of Flight 182 and admitted to building the bombs. He was later convicted of perjuring himself at the trial of Malik and Bagri. He was freed in 2016.
Sikh extremist Talwinder Singh Parmar was identified as having masterminded the attack by the judge in Malik and Bagri's trial, as well as the 2010 report from the commission of inquiry. Parmar was shot dead by Indian police in 1992.
A suspect known only as "Mr. X" has never been identified.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 19, 2025.
Canadian Press Staff, The Canadian Press
