Profile of Accused - Ajaib Singh Bagri

Bagri, a mill worker currently based in Kamloops, British Columbia, has been described as a key lieutenant of Talwinder Singh Parwar. Ajaib Bagri is alleged to have been an important fund-raiser for the Parmar faction of the Babbar Khalsa. After developing close contacts with many prominent personalities during his long stay in Canada, Bagri was able to retain Babbar Khalsa's status as a non-profit organisation. In the mid-1990's, reports in the Canadian media about his terrorist antecedents led the federal policymakers to cancel the non-profit society status of Babbar Khalsa. Recent reports have indicated that Bagri had registered approximately 200 new members for the British Columbia Liberals to oppose Gur Singh of the moderate faction. Bagri has also been charged with the 1988 attempt to murder Tara Singh Hayer, a Canadian Sikh journalists who was the editor of Indo-Canadian Times and had been outspoken critic of the Kanishka bombing suspects. Although Hayer survived that particular attempt, he was later shot dead in 1998.