VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, June 9 (REUTERS): A man suspected by police of playing a role in the Air India bombings, but was never charged, denied he had any involvement with the plot that killed 331 people.
Daljit Singh Sandhu rejected a claim by a prosecution witness that he picked up the airline tickets in Vancouver used to place suitcase bombs on airliners in June 1985, one of which destroyed Air India flight 182 off the coast of Ireland.
Ever," Sandhu, a defense witness, yesterday told the British Columbia Supreme Court in Vancouver.
Sandhu angrily denied a prosecution suggestion that he could lie.
I have a reputation here.
Not a single person can say that I ever lied," he said.
Sandhu said he knew defendants Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri, who are on trial for murder, but denied he assisted in any bomb plot.
Malik and Bagri are charged with murder for the mid-air bombing of flight 182, which killed 329 people.
It was deadliest act of aviation sabotage prior to the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington.
The second suitcase exploded while being transferred to an air India plane in Tokyo, killing two airport workers.
Police allege the bombings were the work of Sikh separatists living in Vancouver, who wanted revenge for the Indian army's bloody 1984 storming of Sikhism's golden temple in India.
The unknown passengers who checked in the bags never boarded the aircraft themselves, according to investigators.
Sandhu had been scheduled to testify last week as the first major defense witness, but his appearance in court was delayed when he suffered a mild heart attack.