VANCOUVER, November 26, 2004
CP

The Crown has wrapped its closing arguments in the historic Air India bombing trial, inching the court toward a verdict in the 20-year-old mass murder.

Defence teams for Ajaib Singh Bagri and Ripudaman Singh Malik will have one last chance to rebut the stacks of evidence filed against their clients.

Bagri's lawyers will also argue his rights were violated when the Crown allegedly failed to disclose information in a timely way.

``Counsel has a sincere desire to complete the process by next week,'' said Michael Code, of Bagri's team.

The trial, expected to ring up as the most expensive in Canadian history, has dragged on for a year and a half.

In closing arguments Friday, prosecutor Richard Cairns said the Crown has proven its case against Bagri.

``The person who committed this crime is a fanatic without any empathy for his fellow man. Bagri is such a person. He hates Hindus.

``He wants to destroy the Indian government and Air India, which he blamed for raising foreign capital to buy arms used against Sikhs.''

Bagri was implicated on the stand by two key witnesses, both of whom can't be named under court order.

An American known only as John testified that Bagri confessed to him that he plotted the bombing.

A woman who is believed to have been having an affair with him lent credibility to that story, Cairns said. She told investigators that he came to her house the night before the bombing and asked to borrow her car to take bags to the airport. He said only the bags were going on the plane. Six months later he threatened her not to tell anyone.