Canada: 1985 Air India Bombing Suspect Ripudaman Singh Malik Shot Dead In Surrey

Ripudaman Singh Malik, one of the acquitted men in the 1985 Air India bombing, was shot dead by unknowns on Thursday morning (local time) in Surrey in Canada.

Ripudaman Singh Malik, one of the acquitted men in the 1985 Air India bombing, was shot dead by unknowns on Thursday morning (local time) in Surrey in Canada's British Columbia province. Jaspal Singh, Malik's brother-in-law, confirmed the news to ANI and said, "We are uncertain about who killed Ripudaman. His younger sister is on her way to Canada.

According to media reports, Ripudaman Singh Malik who came to Canada in 1972 was shot dead on Thursday morning (local time) by unknown people who came in the car and later burned it down. A burning car was discovered a few blocks from the scene of the shooting, which is a common indicator of a gang hit, but there have been no confirmed reports as of yet. However, the suspected targeted killing angle is being probed.

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It is pertinent to mention that Malik who was in his mid-70s was allegedly connected to the terrorist group Babbar Khalsa, which was behind a number of attacks in Punjab. Talwinder Singh Parmar, the putative planner of the Air India bombing, was also a close associate of Ripudaman Malik.

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Ripudaman Singh Malik & Air India Flight 182 bombing

One of the people accused of being a key player in the bombing of Air India Flight 182 Kanishka was Malik. On June 23, 1985, a bomb on Air India Flight 182 "Kanishka" from Canada off the coast of Ireland exploded, killing 329 people including the crew. More than 280 Canadian citizens, including 29 entire families and 86 kids under 12, were killed

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Malik and his co-accused, Ajaib Singh Bagri, were acquitted in 2005 of mass murder and conspiracy charges. Notably, Malik spent four years in prison before his acquittal and later asked for $ 9.2 million as legal fees, however, a British Columbia judge rejected his claims for compensation, ANI reported.

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Notably, the AI Flight 182 bombing is considered one of the worst terrorist attacks on Canada. The attack was the result of a plot that was conceived, planned, and carried out in Canada, and the majority of the casualties were Canadians.

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It is pertinent to mention that Malik was on the Indian black list for several years. However, he was granted a single entry visa in 2020 and multiple visas recently in 2022 and made a pilgrimage trip recently to Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Punjab and Maharashtra in the month of May.

Also, Malik had written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi thanking him for the actions taken for the welfare of the Sikhs before the Punjab Assembly elections in February of this year. In his letter, he noted the BJP government's numerous pro-Sikh actions, like the reopening of the 1984 riots cases."