A man who was acquitted in the 1985 Air India terrorist attack that killed 329 people was shot to death outside Vancouver, Canada, on Thursday morning, according to a report.
Ripudaman Singh Malik was killed while sitting in his car outside a business center in Surrey. according to The Toronto Star.
Malik, 75, and Ajaib Singh Bagri were exonerated of mass murder and conspiracy charges in 2005 after being blamed for a plane explosion near Ireland that killed 280 Canadians and a bomb at a Tokyo airport that killed two baggage handlers, the newspaper said.
They were arrested in 2000 for the massacre and charged with attacking India’s national airline in retaliation for the government’s deadly raid on a Sikh holy spiritual site. Malik and Bagri were released after key witnesses for the prosecution were deemed unreliable, the outlet said.
It was reportedly unclear whether Malik’s “targeted” killing was related to the atrocities to which he had been linked.
A suspect’s car was found nearby on fire shortly after the 9:30 a.m. shooting, according to the outlet.
“The investigation is in the early stages and police are still searching for the suspect and a second vehicle that may have been used as a getaway vehicle,” the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said.
A car wash worker who heard the ambush ran out to find Malik wounded, according to The Canadian Press.
“There were three shots. One hit to the neck, that’s all. And I just pulled him out. He was alive,” the man said.
“It’s shocking,” his longtime friend Asaf Gill told the newspaper. “He was acquitted for some reason. Who is another to take justice into his own hands?
Malik, a billionaire businessman, immigrated to Canada from India in 1972 and became an influential member of British Columbia’s Sikh separatist movement. according to The National Mail.
After working as a taxi driver, Malik founded a credit union and a private school for community members, and was remembered for his faith teachings, his son said on Facebook.
“The media will always refer to him as someone accused of the Air India bombing. He was wrongfully accused, Jaspreet Singh Malik wrote. “The media and the RCMP never seemed to accept the Court’s decision and I pray that today’s tragedy is not related.”
Another suspect, Inderjit Singh Reyat, was reportedly convicted and spent 30 years in prison for helping build the bombs in the terror attack. Suspected ringleader Talwinder Singh Parmar was killed by police in 1992.
