Indian Airlines hijacker deported, CBI takes custody

NEW DELHI/TORONTO - The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Wednesday took into custody Parminder Singh Saini, the hijacker of an Indian Airlines Srinagar-Delhi flight that was taken to Lahore in 1984, after he was deported to India by the Canadian authorities.

Saini, 46, was sent in a private jet that landed at the Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport around 6.45 p.m. Wednesday.

He was accompanied by three officers from the Indian security agencies. After landing, he was immediately taken into custody. The government of India had organised for the special chartered flight.

The CBI officials then took him to an undisclosed location.

We would be taking him for a medical examination and then he would be presented before a judge, said an official.

Saini was the leader of five Sikh militants who hijacked the Indian Airlines flight from Srinagar to Delhi July 6, 1984, with 255 passengers on board and took it to Lahore.

The hijack drama ended after a 17-hour stand-off when the hijackers surrendered to the Pakistani authorities.

The hijacking was carried out to protest the arrest of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale earlier that year for his alleged role in the assassination of Hind Samachar editor Lala Jagat Narain.

After a trial in Pakistan, Saini was sentenced to death by a Lahore court. But the death sentence was commuted to life term. He was released after 10 years in jail and asked to leave Pakistan.

In 1995, Saini entered Canada illegally under the name of Balbir Singh with a fake Afghan passport arranged by Pakistanis. He maintained that he lied about his identity for fear of being deported to India.

After his arrival in Canada, he earned a BA degree and a law degree even as he fought his deportation order.

Last year, Saini applied to the Law Society of Upper Canada to allow him to practice law here. But his application was turned down earlier this month on grounds of his criminal past. Appearing before the Law Society last year, he regretted his past and said he deserves a shot at life in Canada.

Referring to the 1984 hijacking, he said, “I had no legitimate right to do that. It’s not legal.”

Based on his terrorist past and lying about his identify, the Law Society ruled that Saini has failed to prove that he is a man of good character and thus does not deserves to practice in Canada.

Saini was attached to his brother’s immigration consultancy firm Singh and Associates based in Mississauga on the outskirts of Toronto.