Canadian cops warn 1985 AI bombing suspect’s son of potential threat to life
Warning comes as investigators probe possible Indian government’s links to Ripudaman Singh Malik’s killing in 2022.
Canadian police have warned the son of Ripudaman Singh Malik, one of the prime accused in the Air India flight-182 bombing in 1985, that his life may be in danger, according to a media report.
Malik was killed in a “targeted” gangland-style homicide on July 14, 2022, in Surrey, British Columbia. Malik was an accused in the bombing of the Air India flight, the Kanishka, by Khalistani terrorists, which had claimed 329 lives. He was acquitted of all charges.
The outlet, CBC News, reported on Wednesday that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) had issued a “Duty to Warn” letter to his son Hardeep Singh Malik, citing a potential threat to his life. The outlet also stated that police may be investigating a possible Indian role in Malik’s killing, linking it to calls and messages he had received from an Indian official on the eve and the morning of the incident.
However, Indian officials had said at the time that Malik had renounced the Khalistan movement and had issued an open letter praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2022 which had angered hardline separatists. Malik had also been granted a visa to travel to India in 2019 and had been in Punjab weeks prior to his death. In fact, he had a dispute at the time with pro-Khalistan figure Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was killed in Surrey on June 18 last year.
Speaking to the Hindustan Times at the time, Nijjar had denied any such role and had said he had “no issue” with Malik.
On July 17, 2022, the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) arrested two persons in connection with the murder. They were identified as 21-year-old Tanner Fox and 23-year-old Jose Lopez and charges of first-degree murder have been imposed against them for the killing.
At the time, the Surrey detachment of the RCMP had confirmed that Malik was the victim of what was apparently a targeted killing.
