Toronto, Jan. 27 (PTI): Inderjit Singh Reyat, the lone person convicted in the 1985 Air India Kanishka bombing that killed all 329 people on board, was today released from a Canada prison after two decades behind bars.
Reyat was convicted of perjury in 2010 for lying to the court during the 2003 trial of Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri, who were acquitted.
A spokesperson for Canada's parole board confirmed Reyat's statutory release.
A mechanic who migrated from Punjab, Reyat bought the dynamite, detonators and batteries for the bombs.#
In 1991, Reyat was convicted of manslaughter over the deaths of two baggage handlers. He served 10 years and got another five for a related charge.
Reyat got nine years for perjury, the longest such sentence ever given in Canada.
Patrick Storey, the Pacific regional manager of the Parole Board of Canada, said Reyat had reached his statutory release date.
"A statutory release is not a discretionary release. It's an automatic release mandated by law," The Globe and Mail quoted Storey as saying. "His statutory release date is January 27, 2016, and he reaches the end of his sentence on August 6, 2018...."
