(Surrey) Ripudaman Singh Malik, one of two men acquitted in the 1985 Air India terrorist bombing, was killed in a targeted attack in Surrey, British Columbia.
Posted at 8:08 p.m.
Updated at 8:45 p.m.
An employee who works at a nearby car wash said he heard gunshots on Thursday morning and rushed outside to find Mr Malik unconscious in his car.
“There were three shots. One hit him in the neck, that’s all. And I just pulled him out of his red Tesla. He was alive,” said the man, who declined to be named for security reasons.
Police arrived in about 10 to 15 minutes, and an ambulance took longer, he said.
The man said he knew Mr. Malik as a customer of the car wash and because he had a business nearby.
Jaspreet Malik confirmed the death in a statement on social media, saying his father came to Canada in 1972 and was always there for his community and his family, including his wife, five children and eight grandchildren.
“The media will always point to him as a person accused of the Air India bombing,” he said. The media and the RCMP never seemed to accept the court’s decision and I pray that today’s tragedy is not linked to it. »
Sarj Basra, owner of Auto Shine Car Wash and Detail, was not at work when the shooting happened, but said it was upsetting and frightening that such a thing was happening in their neighborhood.
“He was always joking. You know, he was always coming here, talking to us, hanging around,” he said, adding that several of Mr. Malik’s vehicles were serviced at his business.
Carpet business owner Asaf Gill said he had an appointment with Mr Malik about half an hour before he was killed.
“But then I come here and find this,” he said of the yellow police tape that surrounded the scene where a tight-knit business community was in shock.
The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team released a statement Thursday asking for the public’s assistance.
“We are aware of Mr. Malik’s background, although at this time we are still working to determine the motive. We can confirm that the shooting appears to be targeted and there is no longer a risk to the public,” Sergeant Timothy Pierotti said.
He said that because the shooting took place in a residential area, officers are hopeful there will be witnesses who can help solve the crime.
Earlier, the RCMP said in a statement that a man died in what appeared to be a targeted attack, but did not name the victim.
Police said a vehicle believed to have been used in the shooting was found destroyed by flames a few blocks away.
“The investigation is still in its early stages and police are still looking for the suspects and a second vehicle that may have been used as an escape vehicle,” RCMP said.
Ripudaman Singh Malik and his co-defendant, Ajaib Singh Bagri, were found not guilty in March 2005 of murder and conspiracy in connection with two bombings of Air India planes that killed 331 people on June 23, 1985 .
The British Columbia Supreme Court heard during the trial that a suitcase containing explosives was loaded onto a plane at Vancouver airport and then transferred to Toronto on Air India Flight 182. The plane later crashed in the Atlantic Ocean off Ireland, killing all 329 passengers and crew on board.
About an hour later, a bomb intended for another Air India aircraft exploded prematurely at Tokyo’s Narita Airport; two airport baggage handlers died in this explosion.
Inderjit Singh Reyat, the only man convicted of the bombings, testified for the Crown at the trial of Messrs. Malik and Bagri. He was later convicted of perjury.
Deepak Khandelwal of Oakville, Ont., was 17 when his sisters, Chandra, 21, and Manju, 19, were killed in the crash of Flight 182.
“It’s like a nightmare that always comes back,” he said of the many years it took for the trial to begin, the missteps made by the police and the investigation into the tragedy.
“It brings back all the horrible memories we had to go through for the past 37 years,” said Khandelwal, whose family was living in Saskatoon at the time of the bombings.
“I was supposed to be on the flight too,” he said. In fact, I had just canceled a few days before because I was finishing my 12e year and had obtained a scholarship to follow a program at the University of Calgary. So I chose to do that instead of going to my uncle’s wedding. »