VANCOUVER, August 23, 2004
CP

The former roommate of a star Crown witness became the latest in a number of defence witnesses for an accused Air India bomber who has had trouble remembering things.

Balbir Singh Gharala entered the witness box for the second time Monday, his testimony conflicting with several statements he made a week earlier.

Testifying on behalf of accused terrorist Ajaib Singh Bagri, Gharala said he didn't remember telling the court he'd lied to immigration officials about when he arrived in the United States, even when prosecutor Richard Cairns read his statements from court transcripts.

"Do you remember that?'' asked Cairns.

"No,'' Gharala said.

"This was just a week ago,'' said Cairns.

Gharala said he must have misunderstood the question. He also said he didn't remember telling Cairns in an interview earlier this month that he'd lent his car to his former roommate and Crown star witness, who can only be identified as John.

As an illegal immigrant in New York in 1985, Gharala lived in an apartment with several Sikh men, including John, an FBI informant.

As the Crown's star witness, John testified a grinning Bagri told him "we did this'' outside a New Jersey gas station a few weeks after the June 23, 1985 bombings that killed 331 people.

John said he went home to the New York apartment and told his roommates about the confession.

Gharala, a liquor store owner from Baltimore, testified last week he'd never heard of Bagri or the alleged confession.

But he also told the court Monday it's possible conversations could have gone on in the apartment without him taking part.

John also said he borrowed Gharala's car to meet Bagri at a New Jersey gas station.

But Gharala said Monday he never lent out his car. He said he did leave a spare set of keys at home while he worked six days a week.

Bagri, a Kamloops, B.C., sawmill worker, and Vancouver millionaire Ripudaman Singh Malik are charged with eight counts, including conspiracy and murder, in two June 23, 1985 terrorist bombings that killed 331 civilians.

Two baggage handlers were killed in a Tokyo airport when a suitcase from Vancouver exploded.

An hour later, 329 people headed from Toronto to India died when a second bomb ripped apart Air India flight 182 off the coast of Ireland.

The Crown alleges a group of B.C. Sikh separatists targeted Air India to avenge the Indian army's attack on the Golden Temple in Amritsar, Sikhism's holiest shrine.

On Tuesday, Bargri's defence team will introduce what's expected to be their final witness.