Two men confess to the murder of Air India bombing suspect Ripudaman Singh Malik | World news

According to media reports, in Ottawa, two men accused of killing Ripudaman Singh Malik, a Sikh acquitted in the tragic 1985 Air India Kanishka terrorist bombing case, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in a Canadian court.

Tanner Fox and Jose Lopez filed motions in the Supreme Court of British Columbia on Monday, on the eve of trial in the murder of 75-year-old Malik, who was shot multiple times outside his family business on the morning of July 14, 2022.

Malik was shot dead in Surrey, British Columbia, in 2022. He and co-defendant Ajaib Singh Bagri were acquitted in 2005 of mass murder and conspiracy charges related to two bombings in 1985 that killed 331 people.

According to Global News, on Monday in a New Westminster courtroom, both Fox and Lopez pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of second-degree murder.

The report added that the court heard an agreed statement of facts which revealed that two men were hired to kill Malik.

“We know from the agreed statement of facts that there was some type of financial incentive in committing this crime, but in terms of other details, this is another one of those situations where, unfortunately, it’s just something that we as outsiders will probably never know about. we won’t find out,” Lopez’s lawyer, Gloria Ng, told Global News.

“One of the things we’re certainly thinking about is our client’s youth – Lopez is a very young man and we’re certainly hopeful about his rehabilitation prospects.”

In a statement, Malik’s family described him as “a father, brother, husband and grandfather, as well as a tireless community leader,” the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation said Monday.

“While we are grateful for the perpetrators being brought to justice, we know that nothing can erase the pain we have gone through in losing a family member in this way,” the family said.

“However, the work is not finished. Tanner Fox and Jose Lopez were hired to commit this murder. Until the parties responsible for employing them and masterminding this killing are held accountable, the work remains incomplete.”

The family called on the killers to “work with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to bring to justice those who hired you.”

Crown and defense lawyers agreed that Fox and Lopez should not be eligible for parole for 20 years. Then, on October 31, they will appear in court where the verdict will be passed.

The 1985 Air India bombing is among the worst terrorist attacks in Canadian and airline history.

On June 23, 1985, Air India flight no. 182, with 329 people on board, including 268 Canadian citizens and 24 Indian citizens, departed from Toronto and stopped in Montreal, from where it was on its way to London and then onwards to Bombay to the final destination.

The plane was flying 31,000 feet above the Atlantic Ocean when a suitcase bomb in the front cargo exploded, killing everyone on board.

Another bomb was supposed to be planted on board an Air India flight from Japan, but it exploded at Tokyo’s Narita airport, killing two baggage handlers.

Inderjit Singh Reyat was convicted on various charges and spent 30 years in prison for helping to make bombs and lying during trials, including Malik’s. He was released in 2016 after serving two-thirds of his sentence for perjury.

Reyat was the only person convicted of the Kanishka bombing.

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