Toronto: An Indian-origin man, who was once questioned by police in connection with the killing of a journalist a decade ago, is facing deportation after his passport and other documents were expired.

Manjit Singh Rattu is currently in custody at the Calgary Remand Centre and is facing deportation to India. Rattu was accused of killing British Columbia journalist Tara Singh Hayer, who had opposed Khalistan movement in Canada and before his murder he had agreed to be a witness in the Air India bombing trial.

 Hayer, founder of the Indo-Canadian Times in Vancouver, was shot dead on November 18,1998. Rattu s lawyer Rakesh Dewett, has claimed that his client has been cleared of any involvement in the murder of Hayer, Calgary Herald reported yesterday. Advocating against Rattu s deportation, Dewett said during the hearing that his client s life would be in danger if he s returned to India.

 "He is escaping from India to save his life," Dewett said. The Canada Border Services Agency is persuading Rattu, whose Indian passport has expired, to sign travel documents to facilitate his deportation to India. But Rattu has declined to sign travel documents.

The Canada Border Services Agency is in contact with the High Commission of India in Ottawa in an attempt to get Rattu s travel documents without his consent. Rattu came to Canada in 1995,but was denied refugee status two years later and was issued a conditional departure order.

Source : PTI