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Air India bomber denies oath to keep conspiracy secret

The only person ever to admit involvement with the 1985 Air India bombing that killed 329 people denied on Thursday that he took a religious oath to keep the conspiracy a secret.

Inderjit Singh Reyat's testimony at the trial of two other Sikh militants charged in the bombing drew fire from Canadian prosecutors upset at his claim of ignorance about who was involved in the attack and his own role in the plot.

The bomb exploded inside Air India Flight 182 as it neared the coast of Ireland on June 23, 1985, killing everyone on board the Boeing 747. It was the world's deadliest act of aviation sabotage until the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the US.

Reyat was testifying at the murder trial of Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri, who prosecutors allege were part of a Canadian-based plot by Sikh militants to destroy two Air India jets. They have pleaded not guilty.

The second bomb exploded at Tokyo's Narita airport, killing two luggage handlers, less than an hour before Flight 182 was destroyed.

Reyat, 51, pleaded guilty in February to a reduced charge of manslaughter for buying parts used to make the Flight 182 bomb. He was convicted in 1991 of making the bomb that exploded in Narita and spent a decade in prison.

Reyat, who took the stand on Wednesday, repeatedly said he remembered little about what he did, and occasionally made contradictory statements about what he did remember, prompting laughter from relatives of the victims in the court.

He told the court he could not recall if Malik had visited his home in Duncan, British Columbia, with a Sikh religious leader, but denied a prosecution claim that they made him take an oath of secrecy before the bombings occurred.

Reyat was aware Malik had paid money to his wife and four children while he was in jail for the Narita explosion, but said they never told him how much they received or why they were getting the payments.

Earlier Reyat testified that a prominent Sikh militant, Talwinder Singh Parmar, had asked him in 1984 to build a bomb, but he thought it was to be used in India.

Parmar, a founder of the militant Sikh separatist group Babbar Khalsa, was killed in 1992 by police in India's Punjab state.

Although Reyat was testifying at the request of prosecutors, they warned the court they will seek permission yesterday to treat him as a hostile witness and question him about his inconsistent statements.
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