Vancouver: Revenge against India and the dream of a Sikh homeland were the reasons two Sikh men, who are standing trial for the 1985 Air India bombings, placed bombs on Air India planes, a prosecutor has said.

Ripudaman Singh Malik - a millionaire businessman in this Western Canadian city - and Ajaib Singh Bagri - a mill-worker in rural British Columbia - each face eight criminal charges related to conspiracy and murder in 1985.

On June 23 that year, a bomb exploded on Air India flight 182 off the coast of Ireland, killing all 329 onboard. It had originated in Vancouver.

The same day, a second bomb exploded at Narita airport in Tokyo, killing two baggage handlers, who were transferring it to another Air India flight that had originated here.

At the time, fundamentalist Sikhs were embroiled in a heated battle with the Government of India.

Government prosecutor Robert Wright said his legal team will show that Bagri and Malik bombed the two Indian planes to exact revenge against the Indian government for attacking the Sikhs' Golden Temple in 1984 and to further the Sikh fight for an independent homeland called Khalistan.

Wright called expert witness Paul Wallace, a professor emeritus at the University of Missouri and authority on Sikhism, to testify about how extremism developed among Sikhs.

Agencies