Families of Air India bombing victims 'utterly shocked' to learn investigation is inactive

CBC News has learned that the families of the Air India bombing victims have sent letters to the RCMP and the Prime Minister expressing their dismay that the investigation into the crash is now inactive.

The RCMP held a meeting in Toronto on Sept. 12, according to letters viewed by CBC News, where the families say they were told there is no further information to pursue in the case. CBC News has reached out to the RCMP for confirmation and not yet heard back, but has spoken with several people who say they attended the meeting.

Sanjay Lazar, who lost his parents and sister on the 1985 flight bombing, said the families had no idea what was coming in the meeting they'd been called to in a hotel near the Toronto airport.

"They said that we don't have any more leads. We cannot pursue and we need to identify significant persons in this. And therefore we are going to start, well, winding down," Lazar told CBC News in an interview Monday.

"You can't just abandon the whole investigation purely because you feel you've reached a dead end."

On June 23, 1985, Air India Flight 182 took off from Toronto to Mumbai with stops in Montreal, London, England, and New Delhi. A bomb in a suitcase in the hold exploded, and the plane broke apart over the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Ireland.

All 329 people on board were killed, most of whom were Canadian citizens. The bombings are considered the worst mass murder in Canadian history. Investigations and a public inquiry exposed major Canadian intelligence and security failures .

Only one person was ever convicted in connection with the bombing: bomb-maker Inderjit Singh Reyat. He served his 30-year sentence and was released in 2016. Two other men were tried and acquitted in 2005. One of those men, Ripudaman Singh Malik, was shot and killed in 2022. Another suspect was killed in India in 1992.

A timeline of the Air India case, from the bombings to the death of an old suspect

Rob Alexander, who lost his father in the explosion, says the meeting was "long overdue," noting it had been many years since the RCMP spoke with the families. He told CBC News about 40 or 50 family members were in attendance Sept. 12, and another 20 or so connected through Zoom.

"They told us that because they felt they had exhausted most of the strings of evidence that they had been following over the years, they were kind of parking the investigation and kind of going inactive," Alexander said.

"We know it's been a long time, and things get exhausted and people die off and we get that. But to shelve the whole thing and make it inactive, it is a big slap in the face to the memories of the people that we lost."

The letter from the RCMP addressed to "The Families of the victims of Air India Flight 182, 1985," which has been viewed by CBC News, invited family members to attend the meeting that would "provide an update on the current status of the Air India Flight 182 investigation, including an outline of future steps."

"We recognize that this continues to be a deeply personal and difficult experience, and we are committed to keeping you informed and supported," reads the invitation.