Only man convicted in Air India tragedy released from prison
Reyat, found guilty of perjury in 2010, sent to halfway house to finish sentence
The only person convicted in the 1985 Air India bombing has been granted statutory release from prison to a halfway house.
Inderjit Singh Reyat, a former Duncan resident, was charged with perjury in 2006 for repeatedly lying during his testimony at the trial into the bombing deaths of 331 people, mostly Canadians.
Reyat was found guilty in 2010 and sentenced to a record nine years in prison, or seven years and seven months after accounting for time served.
Under the law, offenders must be granted statutory release after they have served two-thirds of their sentence.
Parole Board of Canada spokesman Patrick Storey said Reyat must abide by several conditions as part of his release, including not possessing extremist propaganda or possessing components used to build an explosive device.
He is also not allowed to contact victims’ families or anyone who is believed to hold extremist views. He will be monitored by a parole officer and must complete counselling.
Reyat, born in 1952, is set to serve the rest of his sentence, which ends in August 2018, at a halfway house. Storey said he could not disclose the location of the residence due to privacy legislation.
Reyat was working as an electrician in Duncan on June 23, 1985, when a bomb exploded as luggage at Tokyo’s Narita airport was being unloaded from a CP Air flight that had arrived from Vancouver. Two luggage handlers were killed. About an hour later, Air India Flight 182, travelling from Montreal to New Delhi, exploded in the air off the Irish coast, killing all 329 people aboard.
After a lengthy trial, Reyat was convicted of manslaughter in 1991 for the two Narita airport deaths. In 2003, he pleaded guilty to manslaughter for his role in the Air India bombing.
Court testimony revealed that Reyat had bought materials and built the bombs while living in Duncan. Federal agents, conducting surveillance, spotted him and another man on June 4, 1985, going into the bush near Duncan. Observing from a distance, they heard a loud bang. When police later searched the area, they found bomb parts.
The parole board ruling for Reyat’s release said a psychologist’s assessment in 2013 found his risk was “relatively high” for future group-based violence and that he lacked remorse for the victims of the bombings.
If Reyat breaches any of the conditions, he can be sent back to prison, Storey said.
A parole officer could also recommend that Reyat be released early from the halfway house.
The eligibility date for Reyat’s statutory release is today. Correctional Service Canada can release him a day early, but spokesman Jean-Paul Lorieau said privacy legislation prevented him from confirming whether Reyat had already left prison.
Bal Gupta, whose wife, Ramwati, died aboard Air India Flight 182, said Reyat’s release is a difficult reality of the justice system for families who lost loved ones.
“This is justice taking its course and whether we are happy with it or not that’s a different issue,” said Gupta, of the Air India Families Association. “Life goes on but this kind of pain, it disappears on the face but inside it will go with us when we go,” Gupta said from his Toronto home.
“Twenty-nine families were completely wiped out — husband, wife, children, they were all gone. Seven couples lost all their children, and some of them are now in their late 60s or even early 70s. He’ll be back with his family, but for those people it’s a punishment for a lifetime.”
Ripudaman Singh Malik of Vancouver and Ajaib Singh Bagri of Kamloops were acquitted in March 2005 of murder and conspiracy charges in the two bombings connected with state-owned Air India.