Ripudaman Singh Malik was an acquitted suspect in the 1985 Air India bombing that claimed 331 lives. He was accused of funding the terror operation. Malik was shot dead in Surrey in Canada’s British Columbia on Thursday
Ripudaman Singh Malik was shot dead in Surrey in Canada’s British Columbia. PTI
Ripudaman Singh Malik, an acquitted suspect in the 1985 Air India bombing that killed 331 people, was shot dead in Surrey in Canada’s British Columbia on Thursday, the local media reported.
Three shots were heard and Malik was reportedly hit in the neck. It appeared to be a targeted shooting and the victim succumbed to injuries at the scene, Canadian media reported the local police as saying.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police would not confirm the victim’s name but said in a statement that a man was found “suffering from gunshot wounds” and had “succumbed to his injuries (at the) scene”, reports the news agency AFP.
“This appears to be a targeted shooting,” said Constable Sarbjit Sangha, adding that a vehicle believed to have been driven by the shooters was located a few kilometres away “fully engulfed in fire”. After setting the blaze, it’s likely the shooters fled in another getaway vehicle that police are now searching for, she said.
Who is Ripudaman Singh Malik?
Ripudaman Singh Malik was one of the accused in the 1985 bombing of Air India’s Flight 182 Kanishka that killed 331 people, mostly travelling from Canada’s Toronto and Vancouver. The bombing had been the deadliest act of airborne terrorism before the September 11 attacks in the United States.
According to Canadian investigators, a suitcase bomb was loaded onto an aircraft and transferred in Toronto to the Air India plane. The explosive went off the coast of Ireland, killing all the passengers and crew on board. The victims included 280 Canadians and 86 children.
On the same day, there was another explosion at Tokyo’s Narita airport, which killed two baggage handlers. The bomb was inside a bag that had been checked into a Canadian Pacific Airlines flight in Vancouver. It was to be placed later on Air India Flight 301 to Bangkok.
According to probe agencies from India and Canada, the two bombings were linked and had been planned by Sikh separatists to avenge Operation Blue Star.
This June 1985 photo shows Irish naval authorities bringing ashore debris from the Air India flight in Cork, Ireland, following the bombing that killed all 331 people on board. AFP
What was Malik’s role in the bombing?
Malik was accused of financing the terror operation. The other two prime accused were Inderjeet Singh Reyat and Ajaib Singh Bagri.
Malik and Bagri were charged with 329 counts of first-degree murder and conspiracy charges but were acquitted after Reyat, who was made a prosecution witness, said he could not remember details of the plot or the names of those involved.
Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri were acquitted in 2005 in a verdict that prosecutors said would have been different if Reyat had told the truth on the stand. Reyat was paroled in 2016 after serving two decades behind bars.
Malik spent four years in jail before the acquittal. He later sought $9.2 million for compensation, a claim which was rejected by a British Columbia judge.
Was Malik linked with any terror outfit?
The bombings took place at a time when insurgency was at its peak in Punjab.
Malik was allegedly associated with Babbar Khalsa, a terror organisation, which was responsible for attacks in Punjab. He was close to Talwinder Singh Parmar, the alleged mastermind of the Air India bombing and headed one of the Khalsa actions, according to a report in The Indian Express.
What happened after the acquittal?
When Malik came to Canada in 1972, he would drive a cab. In recent years, he served as chairman of the Khalsa School and managed two of the private schools’ campuses in Surrey and Vancouver. He was also president of the Vancouver-based Khalsa Credit Union (KCU), which has more than 16,000 members, reports CBC.
Malik was living in Vancouver and would travel to Surrey (where he was killed) to his office every morning.
Ripudaman Singh Malik (left) with his son. In recent years, Malik managed schools and was president of the Vancouver-based Khalsa Credit Union. Image courtesy: Jaspreet Singh Malik/Facebook
What about connections to India?
In November 2019, Malik visited India after a gap of 25 years after the government scrapped the list of blacklisted Sikhs. He visited the Golden Temple in Amritsar.
After his visit in 2019, his brother Jasjit Singh Malik told The Times of India that it was his last wish to visit Darbar Sahib.
In January this year, he wrote a letter to Narendra Modi thanking him for the measures he has taken for the community and appealed to them not to “unfairly” criticise the prime minister.
His last visit to India came only a few weeks ago. Former Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee president Manjit Singh GK said that Malik returned to Canada on June 6-7 after staying there for more than a fortnight, reports The Times of India.
Paramjit Singh Sarna, the former head of the Committee, said that he was “deeply saddened” by Malik’s death.
“The loss is irreparable,” he said in a statement. “Sardar Malik ran a number of Khalsa schools and was at the forefront of humanitarian efforts in Canada. My sincere condolences to his family. We hope Canadian authorities will launch a thorough investigation into his assassination and bring culprits to book.”
With inputs from agencies
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