Canadian Police has sought permission from the Indian Government to visit the country to further the criminal investigation into the June 1985 bombing of Kanishka airliner that killed 329 people, an official said here.Inspector Lloyde Plante said yesterday that investigators of Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s task force met with Indian Government representatives in Canada this week to update them on the ongoing criminal probe into the bombing of the Air India aircraft.Plante said the criminal case is active, despite the acquittal of key suspects Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri two years ago.Several other suspects, including people in India and England, were identified as unindicted co-conspirators during the 19-month trial of Malik and Bagri that ended with the not guilty verdicts in March 2005. “Once they give us permission, we will send our team over there,” Plante was quoted as saying by The Vancouver Sun today while referring to the discussions with Indian officials.Ashok Sharma, the Indian consul-general in Vancouver, said Indian representatives were pleased with the update on the criminal case provided by the RCMP this week.“We really appreciate that the RCMP is pursuing this case with earnest,” Sharma said. “We will cooperate fully and do whatever we have to in assisting them.”The RCMP’s criminal case is separate from the judicial inquiry in Ottawa, headed by retired Supreme Court justice John Major. The inquiry is on a summer break, but will resume September 10.Plante stressed the planned trip to India has nothing to do with recent news reports about an alleged confession by suspected mastermind Talwinder Singh Parmar while he was being interrogated in Punjab in October 1992. “This trip, frankly, had been planned well in advance of the news reports,” Plante said.
