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Ripudaman Singh Malik killer sentenced for another fatal shooting in 2022
Tanner Fox, a resident of Abbotsford in British Columbia, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for March 2022 murder while already behind bars for life without parole for his involvement, in the Malik murder in July 2022
Toronto: One of the two persons responsible for the killing of 75-year-old Ripudaman Singh Malik four years ago, has also been sentenced for the fatal shooting of another person.
Tanner Fox, now 25, was sentenced in January last year to life without parole, a term of 20 years, for the murder of Malik, a controversial figure once accused of involvement of the bombing of Air India flight 182, the Kanishka, in June 1985.
In a statement on Thursday, the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) said Fox was sentenced on Wednesday to 15 years in prison with no credit for time served in relation to the fatal shooting of a 41-year-old Chad Colivas of Abbotsford, British Columbia, on March 21, 2022.
The subsequent IHIT investigation deemed that Colivas was shot when he confronted Fox when the latter broke into his residence. Colivas was unarmed and the incident was not associated to any gang conflict.
IHIT, along with members of the Abbotsford Police Department, arrested Fox in May 2023, and charged him with second degree murder. Also arrested was Laetitia Acera, 30, who was charged with manslaughter.
“The victim was only 41 years old when his life was taken away due to a senseless act of violence,” IHIT spokesperson Sergeant Freda Fong said.
Fox was sentenced in the Malik case in January 2025, and his co-accused Jose Lopez, in March that year.
The prosecution said the two accused shot Malik “multiple times” and the act was “a planned and deliberate killing” and they were “financially compensated for killing him”.
Malik was a controversial figure due to being named as an accused in the Kanishka bombing on June 23, 1985, which led to the death of 329 persons.
That attack by pro-Khalistani extremist remains 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 bombmaker Inderjit Singh Reyat was convicted but was released in 2016 after completing nearly two-third 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 figure Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was killed in the same town on June 18, 2023. Removed from a blacklist, Malik had visited India that year.
Malik was killed on July 14, 2022, as he sat in his vehicle in the parking lot of his business in Surrey in British Columbia.
