Air India Flight 182 was an Air India flight operating on the Montreal-London-Delhi-Bombay route. On 23 June 1985 the Boeing 747-237B operating on the route was bombed over Irish airspace, killing all onboard. Until 11 September 2001, the Air India bombing was the single deadliest terrorist attack involving aircraft. It remains to this day the largest mass murder in Canadian history. The incident occurred within an hour of the Narita Airport Bombing. The plane, a Boeing 747-237B (c/n 21473/330, reg VT-EFO) named Emperor Kanishka exploded at an altitude of 31,000 feet (9500 m), crashing into the Atlantic Ocean killing all 329 people on board, of whom 280 were Canadian citizens and 22 were Indian nationals.
Investigation and prosecution took almost 20 years and was the most expensive trial in Canadian history, costing nearly CAD $130 million. The co-accused were found not guilty and released. The only person convicted of involvement in the bombing is Inderjit Singh Reyat, who pleaded guilty in 2003 to manslaughter in constructing the bomb used on Flight 182 and received a five-year sentence. He was refused parole in July 2007.
In September 2007, the commission investigated reports, initially disclosed in the Indian investigative news magazine Tehelka that an hitherto unnamed person, Lakhbir Singh Brar Rode, had masterminded the explosions. This report appears to be inconsistent with other evidence available with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).