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Accused in the Air India Kanishka bombing case Ripudaman Singh Malik had shared details of the plot to blow up the plane, including mistakes he believed were made, with a confidante, a witness in the trial has testified at a court in Vancouver.
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A longtime acquaintance of Malik who was treasurer at Surrey's Khalsa School, told the British Columbia Supreme Court on Friday that the woman, who is also expected to testify at the trial next month, told him in 1997 about comments Malik allegedly made to her about the bombing, the Vancouver Sun reported.
Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri are each charged with eight counts of murder and conspiracy in the June 23, 1985 Air India bombing that killed 329 people. On the same day, a bomb in a suitcase blew up as it was being transferred to AI flight 301 at Japan's Narita airport, killing two baggage handlers.
A court order prohibits the media from identifying either the woman or the witness. The woman reportedly shared 'a very good relationship' with Malik from 1992 to 1997.
According to reports she said the accused bomber told her that the person who loaded the bombs onto the two flights wore an 'easily identifiable unique ring'.
The person also made a mistake by giving the ticket agent the phone number of a Vancouver Gurdwara and of another suspect in the bombings -- Hardial Singh Johal, who has since died, reports quoted Malik as telling the woman.
The witness said that Malik, who was close to the woman, started losing trust in her after she refused his request to help cover up monthly payments he authorised to Satnam Kaur Reyat, wife of Air India bomb-maker Inderjit Singh Reyat.
He said Malik once told him that Satnam was receiving financial support while Inderjit was in jail for manslaughter 'because her husband has worked for the panth'.
About a month after the conversation with the woman, Malik told him the woman was to be fired from her job at the preschool centre because she was suspected to be an agent of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, the witness said.
The intelligence people came to speak to him a few months later, the witness said, adding he was advised by Malik not to talk to the police, The Globe and The Mail reported.
He also told the court that Malik had a close relationship with Talwinder Singh Parmar, the alleged mastermind of the Air India disaster. Malik had borrowed money from Parmar in early 1980s and Parmar stayed at Malik's home in 1992.