Canada is investigating Ripudaman’s murder case

Canada:A report said Malik was in touch with an Indian diplomat in the hours before his death in 2022. Canada is said to be investigating the alleged involvement of the Indian government in another high-profile murder case apart from the ongoing murder conspiracy investigation against Khalistani extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. The said case pertains to the murder of businessman Ripudaman Singh Malik, who was one of those accused and later acquitted in connection with the 1985 Air India bombing that killed 329 people on board the plane. Singh was shot dead outside his office in Surrey, Canada on 14 July 2022. Two British Columbia gangsters, Tanner Fox and Jose Lopez, were charged with his murder.

However, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) told The Quint that they “do not confirm the potential involvement of any individual, business or entity in any investigation until charges have been laid.” The CBC report also said that officers had issued a warning to Ripudaman Singh Malik’s son Hardeep Malik about a potential threat to his life. However, the RCMP did not confirm this development. “In order to ensure the safety and confidentiality of those who may be subject to threats, as well as to ensure the integrity of our operations, the RCMP does not confirm whether there may have been a duty to warn any individual,” they told The Quint. They further added, “As with any crime, police will conduct an investigation to collect all available evidence in support of a potential prosecution.”

While the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has consistently denied allegations levelled by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in September last year that the Indian government had a role in carrying out Nijjar’s killing, it is yet to respond to the latest allegations about Malik’s murder. An email sent by The Quint to the MEA has also not received any response.

Ripudaman Singh Malik was accused of being involved in the 1985 bombing of Air India 182 Kanishka aircraft – described as the biggest aerial terror attack before 9/11. Malik and co-accused Ajaib Singh Bagri were, however, acquitted by a Canadian court in 2005, while another accused Inderjit Singh Reyat was convicted of murder. Malik is said to have been born in Lahore in 1947 before Partition. His family moved to Ferozepur in East Punjab.

He moved to Canada in 1972 and made a living by driving a taxi and doing odd jobs. He later opened a clothing store named Papillon in Vancouver. In 1986, he founded the Khalsa Credit Union and Khalsa School and emerged as an important Sikh community in British Columbia. Only the Akal Takht had the right to grant any organisation the right to print the Guru Granth Sahib and it gave this right only to the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee. In 2020, the then SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami accused Malik’s Satnam Trust of misleading the Sikh community and violating the order of the Akal Takht.

After his letter to PM Modi became public, a News18 report claimed that Malik was labelled ‘kaum da gaddar’ (traitor to the Sikh community) for praising Modi.