Ripudaman Singh Malik’s killing has all the hallmarks of a professional hitman, according to BC’s former solicitor general.
Kash Heed made the comments during an interview with CTV News on Saturday while discussing the challenges he believes investigators will face in finding Malik’s killer – or killers.
Malik was shot dead Thursday morning outside his business in Surrey. Homicide investigators said a white Honda CRV pulled up more than two hours earlier and that the occupants waited for Malik. The car was later found burnt out in a neighboring alley.
“These are the hallmarks of a person killed or persons killed doing this type of work, and it’s quite common,” Kash Heed said, citing similarities to other shootings that have occurred in B.C.’s Lower Mainland, some of which are related with the ongoing gang conflict.
“It’s going to be a difficult investigation and the RCMP and other law enforcement agencies are really going to have to step up their game and try to find a confidential informant,” Heed said, adding that he believes police will have to find ways to ensure the safety of anyone who assist in the investigation.
“There are people who will know what happened to Mr. Malik a few days ago in Surrey, British Columbia,” Heed said. “But they won’t come out if they actually fear for their safety.”
Malik is known to most as one of the two men acquitted of the Air India bombings in 1985. But the 75-year-old has a long history in both Surrey’s business and Sikh communities.
Independent journalist Gurpreet Singh has been writing about Malik and the bombings for more than 20 years. He was 15 years old when what is often described as the worst mass killing in Canadian history took place and was living in India at the time.
Singh is now based in Delta, British Columbia, and said he first started writing about Malik in 2000, when he was first arrested in the Air India case. He has since conducted numerous interviews with him.
“From my perspective, he was very approachable, very social,” Singh said, adding that the last time the two men spoke was last month to discuss Malik’s plan to bring a Sikh separatist group to British Columbia. Singh said Malik is trying to get the rights to publish Sikh scriptures in Greater Vancouver, which has angered many religious groups.
“This tour was canceled due to the backlash it received from the Sikh community,” Singh said. “Malik was very upset about it, he admitted that during the conversation I had with him, but he never showed any signs of receiving threats on his life.”
That view was echoed by Malik’s family members, who said he had no concerns for his safety before the fatal shooting.
Also this year, Singh said Malik had sparked “outrage” among some members of the Sikh community for his public praise of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose controversial farm laws sparked massive, months-long protests by Punjabi farmers and their supporters.
“Close to the Punjabi elections earlier this year, he (Malik) wrote a letter to Mr. Modi, a letter of support,” Singh said. “People were offended because shortly after the farmer’s protest, everyone was offended.”
Homicide investigators said they believe Malik was targeted, but that a motive for the shooting is unclear, urging the public not to speculate.
The killing drew mixed reactions from the community, with many mourning Malik as co-founder of Khalsa School and Khalsa Credit Union. At the scene of the shooting, some who knew him were visibly shaken as police swarmed the complex.
Others, who continue to suspect that Malik was involved in the Air India attack, had more complicated feelings as they continue to seek responsibility for the bombing.
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