A man acquitted of the 1985 bombing of an Air India flight from Montreal to Mumbai has been killed in Canada in what police believe was a targeted shooting.
The family of Ripudaman Singh Malik confirmed that the 70-year-old was shot and killed on Thursday morning outside his clothing import business.
Police were called to a neighborhood in Surrey, British Columbia after reports of a shooting. They found a man with a gunshot wound.
“The man was given first aid by attendants while emergency medical services took over his care,” police officer Sarbjit Sangha said in a media release. “The injured man succumbed to his injuries at the scene.”
Police did not release the victim’s name, but the family confirmed Malik’s identity.
In 1985, 329 people died when Air India Flight 182 exploded off the coast of Ireland. It was due to stop at Heathrow before traveling to Delhi and possibly Mumbai.
The terrorist attack is the worst act of mass murder in Canadian history. Among the victims were 280 Canadians and 86 children. A second bomb targeting another plane killed two baggage handlers after it exploded at Tokyo’s Narita Airport before being loaded onto an Air India plane.
Crown prosecutors had previously alleged that the Air India bombing was orchestrated by Sikh extremists in British Columbia in retaliation for the 1984 Indian army raid on the Golden Temple in Amritsar, Sikhism’s holiest shrine, which killed hundreds of Sikhs. pilgrims.
Artist sketch of Ripudaman Singh Malik. Photo: Jane Wolsak/AP
In 2005, Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri were acquitted of charges of mass murder and conspiracy in connection with the Air India bombing. A judge ruled that two key witnesses used by the Crown were unreliable. After his acquittal, Malik unsuccessfully sued the government for C$9.2 million, alleging the Crown knew of flaws in his case, but still pressed charges under public pressure.
Only one person was convicted of the attack. Inderjit Singh Reyat served 30 years for lying at two trials, including the one against Malik, and for helping to make the bombs at his home on Vancouver Island. He was released in 2016.
Canadian authorities believe Talwinder Singh Parmar was the architect of the attack. He was shot and killed by Indian police in 1992.
In the years since, Malik, a former supporter of the Sikh separatist movement Khalistan, has held leadership roles at a credit union and a network of Khalsa schools.
2 km from the scene of the shooting, the police found a car on fire, which they believed to be one of the escapees. Police say a second vehicle may have been involved. No arrests have been made.
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