Air India Kanishka bombing case: Canadian Police identifies mysterious man Mr X after 40 years

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) has finally identified the mysterious man known as “Mr. X,” who was involved in bomb testing just weeks before the Air India bombing on June 23, 1985. However, police have declined to disclose his name, citing privacy laws.According to Canadian media reports, RCMP Assistant Commissioner David Teboul said the previously unidentified suspect in the Kanishka Air India bombing case recently died without ever facing charges. He stated that the suspect’s name could not be released due to privacy legislation, even though he is now deceased.
Teboul’s revelation comes ahead of the 40th anniversary of the tragedy, in which all 329 people on board Air India Flight 182—307 passengers and 22 crew members—were killed. The aircraft was en route to London for a stopover when a bomb exploded mid-flight, causing the plane to crash into the sea off the coast of Ireland. Most of the victims were Canadians of Indian origin.
Dozens of relatives of the victims attend the service. Federal Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree led the Canadian delegation. Irish Prime Minister Michael Martin attended it, along with local officials and Indian Minister Hardeep Singh Puri.

#WATCH | 40th anniversary of the Kanishka bombing: Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri lays a wreath at the Ahakista Memorial in Cork, Ireland

On 23 June 1985, Air India Flight 182 was blown up by the Canada-based Khalistani terrorist group Babbar Khalsa near Cork, Ireland,… pic.twitter.com/UX4EfNaM68

– years (@ani) June 23, 2025

Who is Mr. X?

Despite the acquittal of two key bombing suspects in 2005, investigators continued working on the case to “tie up some loose ends.” RCMP Assistant Commissioner David Teboul, commander of federal policing in British Columbia, said this renewed effort led to the identification of the mysterious man known as “Mr. X.”

On June 4, 1985, just weeks before the bombing, the man travelled to Duncan, British Columbia, with terror plot mastermind Talwinder Singh Parmar, a leader of the Babbar Khalsa, a Sikh separatist militant group. The pair then met up with Inderjit Singh Reyat, an electrician.

The trio entered the woods to test a bomb, while being watched by agents from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS). Although the agents heard an explosion, they mistook it for a gunshot and did not take further action at the time.

Parmar, the founder of Babbar Khalsa, was killed by police in Punjab in 1992 before he could be charged in connection with the Air India bombing. Reyat was the only individual convicted in the case. He pleaded guilty to helping build the bomb that brought down Flight AI-182, but claimed he did not know the identity of “Mr. X.”

Reyat was later convicted of perjury, which resulted in a longer prison sentence. He has since served his time and been released.