Kanishka bombing: Key suspect returned to India, was killed in 1992

It was one of the most controversial encounters by the Punjab police that led to the death of Talwinder Singh Parmar, a key suspect in the Kanishka bombing case, in 1992.

Parmar, a Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) activist, is believed to have planned and helped execute the Kanishka bombing in 1985.

The India-born, Canada-settled Parmar kept shuttling between Pakistan and India in the 1980s. Police sources said he was instrumental in smuggling string missiles from Pakistan with which the militants intended to target aeroplanes or choppers in Punjab.

In 1992, he came to Punjab to revive militant activities after a large number of militants had surrendered. He soon formed and led his own BKI (Parmar) group of militants. The police say Parmar and other militants were killed in an encounter in Jalandhar.

Some Canadian media groups and activists have claimed that Parmar was arrested and killed in a fake encounter after a week in custody. The then Punjab police chief KPS Gill submitted a detailed note about the encounter to convince the Canadian embassy (since Parmar was a Candian citizen) about the veracity of the incident.

The police said that while Parmar had no militant background, he became one after Operation Bluestar, in which the Indian army entered the Golden Temple to flush out militants.