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This was certainly an attention grabber.

Smiling for many a camera, including snaps with Sophie Gregoire-Trudeau and Infrastructure Minister Amarjeet Sohi, was none other than Jaspal Atwal, who in 1986 tried to murder Indian cabinet minister Malkiat Singh Sidhu.

As Postmedia’s Candice Malcolm reported Thursday, Atwal was one of four gunmen who fired five bullets into Sidhu when they ambushed his car as he made his way to a family wedding.

Not that Atwal served any jail time. Despite being sentenced to 20 years in prison, all went awry when it was learned that CSIS had obtained evidence through an improperly obtained warrant.

Photo by Sean Kilpatrick / THE CANADIAN PRESS

Next stop, a dinner with the prime minister in New Delhi being dished out by Canadian celebrity chef Vij.

Should never have happened, the PMO says. A big mistake, et cetera, et cetera, that will never happen again.

The MP who invited Atwal will be chastised. The invitation was rescinded, but too late to stop Atwal from showing up.

Cue the backtracking.

The PMO confirmed to CTV that chef Vij’s “out of pocket expense” were being covered which, let’s be honest, means everything was covered — air fare, hotel, meals, tips, incidentals, taxis, you name it.

After all, had Vij stayed put in Vancouver, he would have had no “out of pocket expenses” whatsoever to be reimbursed.

Round-trip air fare from Vancouver to New Delhi, by the way — business class, as befitting a culinary-rescue chef — is listed on Air Canada’s price charts as pushing the $10,000 range.