Search the Internet           Tips

Malik, Bagri remanded to month's custody

Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri, the two men who were arrested on Friday in connection with the bombing of Air-India's Kanishka jetliner 15 years ago, have been remanded to judicial custody for a month.

The two men, who have been charged on eight counts, including criminal conspiracy and first-degree murder, were produced for the first time before the British Columbia provincial court in Vancouver early on Monday.

Judge Jane Godfrey ordered that they be held in jail until their next appearance in court on November 30.

Earlier, the men's appearance in court was delayed because courtroom guards said they were changing their clothes. Malik's lawyer, Terry Laliberte, then demanded that his client be brought out immediately.

Malik, president of a small Vancouver bank, appeared in court wearing a white plastic hood over his head to replace the turban that prison officials had ordered both men to remove.

"This is outrageous," said Laliberte. "It is demeaning that my client has to come into court with a bag over his head."

Crown counsel Geoffrey Gaul said prosecutors had nothing to do with the removal of the men's turbans and it was an issue for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and prison officials to handle.

A prison spokesman said the incident was the result of a "misunderstanding" and would be corrected.

Laliberte later said he would seek immediate bail for his client and hoped the application could be heard in the Supreme Court of British Columbia this week.

"They don't have a case against my client," said Laliberte. "It is based on one disgruntled employee of his. They don't have any evidence at all other than a few people that don't like Mr Malik."

EARLIER REPORTS:
Third suspect in Kanishka bombing held
Canadian police arrest 2 men for 1985 bombing

Back to top

Tell us what you think of this report