Who is Ripudaman Singh Malik? 1985 Air India bombing acquitted suspect killed in Canada

Ripudaman Singh Malik, one of the suspects in the 1985 Air India bombing who was acquitted in 2005, was shot dead by unknowns on Thursday morning (local time) in Surrey in Canada's British Columbia province.

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.

Who was Ripudaman Singh Malik?

Malik migrated to Canada in 1972 and started his life in the North American country as a cab driver. He then rose to the position of president of Vancouver's Khalsa Credit Union (KCU), which has 16,000 members and over $110 million in assets. He also served as the president of the Satnam Education Society in Canada's British Columbia and oversaw the operation of Khalsa schools that included teaching Punjabi and Sikh history in addition to the Canadian curriculum.

1985 Air India bombing

He was also one of the people accused of being a key player in the bombing of 1985 Air India Flight 182 "Kanishka". 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

Malik and his co-accused, Ajaib Singh Bagri, who were accused of the 1985 Air India bombing 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.

Links with Babbar Khalsa & recent visits to India

In addition to this, Malik 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.

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.

Letter to PM Modi

Notably, 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.