Air India disaster trial to call up Gardaí witnesses

GARDAÍ are expected to be called to give evidence in the trial of three men accused of blowing up a plane that went down off the Cork coast 17 years ago.

Garda forensic experts who were among the first people to examine the wreckage of Air India Flight 112 are understood to be preparing to travel to Canada for the trial.

They will be among an expected 1,000 witnesses giving evidence in the trial to be held later this year.

Inderjit Singh Reyat, Vancouver businessman Ripudaman Singh Malik, and mill worker Ajaib Singh Bagri are accused of planting the bomb that brought down the flight off the coast of Ireland in June 1985, killing all 329 people on board.

They face charges including first degree murder, attempted murder and placing a bomb on an aircraft. It is alleged the accused are Sikh extremists.

Mr Bagri and Mr Malik were arrested and charged in October 2000 but Mr Reyat was not charged until the following June.

The trial was due to start in February last in the western Canadian city of Vancouver but was postponed to November when lawyers for Mr Reyat argued they needed more time to prepare, given the size and scope of the investigation.

There could be as many as 1,000 witnesses, it could last two years or more and the courtroom itself will need to accommodate 20 lawyers.

The Canadian government has offered to pay the expenses so family members of people who died on the flight can attend portions of the trial.

Garda sources said members of the forensic team who worked on the original investigation are expecting to be called as witnesses.

Flight 182 was on its way from Toronto to Bombay with a stop in London when it blew up off the coast of Ireland. Most of the passengers were Canadian citizens of Indian extraction.

Police believe the bomb was hidden in luggage which was sent from Vancouver to connect with flight 182.