Who bombed Air India Flight 182, and was the case ever solved?

The claim: There are two competing claims. The first is that the case is solved in substance: Canada’s 2010 inquiry said Talwinder Singh Parmar and the Babbar Khalsa were behind the attacks (ThePrint), and India’s ministers, on the 40th anniversary in June 2025, called the bombing “one of the worst acts of terrorism” (S. Jaishankar) and “a stain on humanity” (Hardeep Singh Puri) (The Week). The second claim, made by some Sikh voices, is that the 2005 verdict cleared the two Sikhs who were tried and that those “really responsible” have never been identified.

The sourced facts:

• The attack. On 23 June 1985 all 329 people aboard Air India Flight 182 were killed; only 132 bodies were recovered. A second bomb at Narita airport in Tokyo the same day killed two baggage handlers (The Canadian Encyclopedia).
• Planned in Canada. Bob Rae’s 2005 report to the Minister of Public Safety found that the bombing was “the result of a conspiracy conceived, planned, and executed in Canada”. It says the June 1984 raid on the Golden Temple and the killing of Indira Gandhi “dramatically radicalized Sikh activism”, and that a “culture of fear” in some communities discouraged witnesses (Public Safety Canada).
• Who the courts named. Rae records that Justice Josephson “concluded that one of the leaders of the conspiracy was Talwinder Singh Parmar”, who was never convicted of the bombing and was killed by Indian security forces in 1992 (Public Safety Canada; ThePrint). Inderjit Singh Reyat helped build the bomb; the judge called him “an unmitigated liar under oath”. Reyat was convicted of manslaughter over the Narita bomb (10 years), pleaded guilty in 2003 to manslaughter in the Flight 182 deaths (5 years), and was convicted of perjury in 2010 (9 years) (The Canadian Encyclopedia). He walked free on 16 February 2016 and refused to name others (ThePrint).
• The acquittals. Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri were found not guilty in March 2005; Justice Ian Josephson found that the Crown’s evidence fell “markedly short” of what was needed (The Canadian Encyclopedia). ThePrint adds that the court questioned the motives and integrity of key prosecution witnesses. Malik was shot dead in July 2022 (ThePrint).
• Official failure. The Major Commission (2010) found “a cascading series of errors” by Canadian agencies and made 64 recommendations (The Canadian Encyclopedia). Surveillance of Parmar was lifted on 16 June 1985, and the intelligence service later destroyed tapes of its phone surveillance (ThePrint). Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologised on 23 June 2010 for “institutional failings” (McMaster University).

The Panthic answer: The sources opened for this note include no statement on the bombing from Sri Akal Takht Sahib or the SGPC, and none is invented here. What Sikh bodies abroad have said is on record. On 23 March 2005 the World Sikh Council, America Region, said it was “pleased with the verdict upholding the innocence of the two Sikhs charged with this crime”, was concerned that “those who are really responsible for the murder of 329 innocent victims” remained free, and asked Canada for a Royal Commission of Inquiry (World Faith News archive). Canada held one, the Major Commission, from 2006 to 2010, and the World Sikh Organization of Canada took part as an intervener (The Canadian Encyclopedia). In June 2025 the Khalsa Diwan Society, in a joint letter with the North American Hindu Association to British Columbia’s premier, asked for a memorial; a society representative said: “Extremists may have had a Khalistani agenda, but this is not a Sikh issue. Sikhs and Hindus died together” (Organiser).