Vancouver: A key witness in the Air India trial broke down in court as she testified that she was dismayed to find herself behaving as a spy against Ripudaman Singh Malik during investigations into the case.

The woman buried her face in a tissue and sobbed as she recounted that on the day she returned to work to be fired by her boss Malik, a man she said she loved, police slipped a microphone into her purse.

Malik called her on a Saturday to tell her not to come back to work at his day-care centre. She insisted on receiving her dismissal in writing and planned to return to work Monday to receive it.

After Malik's call, she said she phoned a Canadian intelligence agent she had spoken to before. A police officer was also notified.

The witness, who cannot be identified under court order for her protection, testified that police did not like the idea of her arriving alone and worried for her safety. They put the microphone in her purse and told her to stand by the window while talking to Malik. If she got into trouble, she was to say she had a headache.

The woman earlier testified she and Malik were in love with each other, but the relationship soured after Malik twice confessed to being involved in two explosions which killed 331 people and brought down a Air India plane in 1985. Ajaib Singh Bagri is the other accused in the case.

The witness also maintained she never worked as a spy, even though Malik and his associates came to believe she was one and that she was taping their conversations.

The woman said she contacted intelligence only because she hoped they could help her clear her name. But Malik's lawyer, David Crossin, has repeatedly suggested she willingly worked with intelligence and police to bring Malik down.

"I didn't want a big issue out of it. I just wanted my letter and go," she said, then started to cry, according to a report in the 'Toronto Post'.

"I said to myself, Mr Malik, what did you make me become? You guys accuse me of being a spy and now I'm becoming one?

"This is not where I was going. This is not something I ever planned on and right now I'm not going as a CSIS spy, but what am I going as? A spy? I was so hurt, I was so hurt."

As she sobbed, the woman looked directly at Malik. Malik looked at the floor. His wife, children and several associates were in the court.

Meanwhile, the British Columbia Government has agreed to pay half of future legal bills for Malik, but only as a loan until after his trial for mass murder, Attorney-General Geoff Plant was quoted as saying by 'National Post'.

Malik, who shared a $ 12-million fortune with his wife when he was arrested, claimed last summer to be broke.

The loan is in exchange for a mortgage payable to the province against Malik's shares in a resort hotel.

Malik will also lose four of his 11 lawyers. The rest of the team has agreed to stay on the job until the end of the trial. Malik originally received $ 3.6 million in legal aid under a temporary agreement with the ministry.

But a judge ruled in September the businessman had considerable assets, including two prosperous companies that include the hotel.

PTI