Two men with known gang affiliations have pled guilty to the murder of Kanishka bombing suspect Ripudaman Singh Malik, amid dramatic scenes in the Canadian courthouse as they fought each other and had to be subdued by security personnel present there.
Ripudaman Singh Malik was among the principal accused in the bombing by pro-Khalistan terrorists of Air India flight 182, the Kanishka, on June 23, 1985, which led to the death of 329 persons. (Reuters)
Tanner Fox and Jose Lopez on Monday entered “guilty” pleas before the British Columbia Supreme Court in New Westminster for the July 14, 2022 killing of Malik, who was among the principal accused in the bombing by pro-Khalistan terrorists of Air India flight 182, the Kanishka, on June 23, 1985, which led to the death of 329 persons.
Prosecutor Matthew Stacey told the court earlier that the two were responsible for the killing of Malik, in the parking lot outside his business in Surrey, British Columbia.
“Mr Fox and Mr Lopez were hired and paid to commit the murder of Mr. Malik, and they did kill Mr. Malik,” he said, according to the Vancouver Sun.
It also reported that Lopez crossed the courtroom to attack Fox and they “punched and clawed at each other for a couple of minutes”. The fracas was ended by sheriffs present in the court, who subdued the two men and handcuffed them.
Both pled guilty to the charge of second degree murder and will be sentenced on October 31. Charges of first-degree murder against them were dropped by the prosecutors.
However, there were no details made public about the motive behind Malik’s killing or who hired Lopez and Fox.
Malik was a controversial figure after being named in the Kanishka bombing, the worst incident of terrorism in Canadian history. However, he was acquitted due to lack of evidence, along with another accused Ajaib Singh Bagri. Only the bomb-maker Inderjit Singh Reyat was convicted but was released in 2016 after completing nearly two-thirds of his sentence.
In early 2022, Malik issued a public letter disavowing the Khalistan movement and praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He was also believed to have an ongoing dispute with pro-Khalistan separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was killed in the same town on June 18 last year.
India and Canada have been locked in a spat over Nijjar’s killing, with the latter’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau blaming India and Indian diplomats of being involved in it. New Delhi has said that Canada has produced no evidence to back its allegations, and accused Trudeau of playing vote bank politics to garner support of the expat Sikh community in that country. India has withdrawn six of its diplomats in Canada, including its high commissioner, and expelled six Canadian diplomats.
After the pair pled guilty, Malik’s family issued a statement, which said, “We lost our father, brother, husband and grandfather as well as a tireless community leader. Today’s guilty plea on the eve of trial, brings mixed emotions to our family.”
The statement added: “Tanner Fox and Jose Lopez were hired to commit this murder. Until the parties responsible for hiring them and directing this assassination are brought to justice, the work remains incomplete.”
They were arrestedin July 2022 by the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team or IHIT.
At the time of the murder, the Surrey detachment of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police or RCMP confirmed that Malik was the victim of what was apparently a targeted killing. He was slain in what appeared be a gangland-style shooting.
Anirudh Bhattacharya is a Toronto-based commentator on North American issues, and an author. He has also worked as a journalist in New Delhi and New York spanning print, television and digital media. He tweets as @anirudhb.Read More
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