Court grants bail to 1984 plane hijacker
By IANSThursday, March 25, 2010
NEW DELHI - A city court Thursday granted bail to a Sikh militant, Parminder Singh Saini, who had masterminded the hijack of an Indian Airlines plane to Pakistan in 1984.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Ajay Kumar Pandey allowed the bail plea of 46-year-old Saini on a personal bond of Rs.1 lakh and one surety of the like amount.
Saini was deported from Canada in January this year. He was escorted by officials of the Canadian Border Security Agency, India’s National Investigation Authority as well as the Central Bureau of Investigation.
Saini was the leader of five Sikh militants who hijacked an Indian Airlines flight from Srinagar to Delhi July 6, 1984, with 255 passengers onboard and took it to Lahore. The hijack drama ended after a 17-hour standoff, with the hijackers surrendering to the Pakistani authorities.
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 and asked to leave Pakistan.
