On Thursday morning, Ripudaman Singh Malik, who got exonerated in the 1985 Air India bombing case, was shot and killed in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada.
According to witness testimony reported by CBC News, three shots were fired, and Malik was struck in the neck.
The local police confirmed, according to media sources, that shots were fired at around 9.30 a.m. local time and that a man died from his wounds there.
Was Ripudaman Singh Malik From Punjab?
Ripudaman Singh Malik was from Punjab, India. He reportedly had ties to the Babbar Khalsa, a terrorist group behind numerous Punjab attacks.
Malik moved to Canada in 1972, where he was a cab driver initially. He then rose to the position of president of Vancouver’s Khalsa Credit Union (KCU), which has 16,000 members and over $110 million in assets.
He also served as the president of the Satnam Education Society in British Columbia, Canada. He had the responsibilty for overseeing the operation of Khalsa schools that included instruction in Punjabi and Sikh history and the Canadian curriculum.
He hadn’t been to India in 25 years, but that changed in December 2019 when the Narendra Modi administration decided to take his name off the “blacklist.”
In September 2019, the Indian government announced that 312 Sikhs with addresses overseas had been erased from the 35-year-old blacklist.
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What Was Ripudaman Singh Malik’s Age?
Ripudaman Singh Malik was 75 years of age at the time of his demise. He was among those charged in connection with the 1985 bombing of Air India Flight 182 Kanishka.
In 2005, the allegations of mass murder and conspiracy against Singh and his co-accused Ajaib Singh Bagri were dismissed.
Before his conviction, he was imprisoned for four years. Later, he requested $9.2 million in legal expenses, but a British Columbian judge denied his payment requests.
Ripudaman Singh Malik Wife & Family
Ripudaman Singh Malik was married to Raminder. With his wife, he shared five children, including three sons, namely Jaspreet, Hardeep, and Darshan.
His family suffered in court for several years after the 1985 Air India bombing over the funds used to cover his legal costs.
According to Indian Express, the government demanded that the family pay damages, stating that they had planned to conceal his assets for him to be eligible for legal aid before the 2003 start of his terrorism trial.
On 16 March 2005, Ripudaman of all murder and conspiracy charges; however, he resisted government efforts to recoup the more than $5 million it borrowed to pay for his defense team’s expenses.
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Ripudaman Singh Malik’s Son Jaspreet Malik Break Out Following A Targeted Shooting
Jaspreet Malik confirmed his father’s passing in a statement on social media.
He also stated that his dad was devoted to his community and family, which included his wife, five children, and eight grandkids.
Jaspreet wrote, “The media will always identify him for the Air India bombing.”
He also added, “I hope today’s tragedy is unrelated to how the media and RCMP treated the court’s ruling.”
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