A man acquitted of a terrorist attack that killed 329 people aboard an Air India flight in 1985 has been shot dead in what Canadian authorities have described as a possible shooting.
Key points:
- Ripudaman Singh Malik was found not guilty of murder by the crash of an Air India plane
- He was found dying in his car outside a car wash
- A man whose sisters died in the Air India attack called it “a nightmare that never ceases to give.”
Jaspreet Malik confirmed the death of his father, Ripudaman Singh Malik, in a statement on social media on Thursday.
“The media will always refer to him as someone accused of the Air India bombing,” he wrote.
“The media and the RCMP [Royal Canadian Mounted Police] he never seemed to accept the court’s decision and I pray that today’s tragedy is unrelated. “
In March 2005, Malik and his co-defendant, Ajaib Singh Bagri, were found not guilty of murder and conspiracy in a pair of attacks on Air India aircraft on 23 June 1985.
A witness working in a car wash in the city of Surrey, British Columbia, said he heard gunshots on Thursday morning and ran out to find Mr Malik unconscious in his car.
People arrive at the scene where Mr. Malik was shot. (AP: Darryl Dyck / The Canadian Press)
The RCMP said a man died in what appeared to be a targeted attack, but they did not identify the victim.
A vehicle believed to have been used in the shooting was found burning a few blocks away.
Canadian police said the attack could have been a target. (AP: Darryl Dyck / The Canadian Press)
“The investigation is in the early stages and police are still searching for the suspects and a second vehicle that could have been used as an escape vehicle,” police said in a statement.
What happened to the Air India bombings?
Malik’s trial in the British Columbia Supreme Court learned that a suitcase bomb was loaded onto a plane at Vancouver Airport and then moved to Toronto on Air India Flight 182.
Malik, who was killed this week, smiles after hearing his verdict of not guilty in a Vancouver court on March 16, 2005. (Reuters: Lyle Stafford)
The plane crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Ireland and killed all 329 passengers and crew.
About an hour later, a bomb destined for another Air India plane exploded prematurely at Tokyo’s Narita Airport, where two pieces of luggage were killed.
A group meets at the scene. (AP: Darryl Dyck / The Canadian Press)
Inderjit Singh Reyat, the only man convicted of the attacks, testified for the indictment at the trial of Malik and Bagri and was later convicted of perjury.
Ontario man Deepak Khandelwal was 17 when his two sisters, Chandra, 21, and Manju, 19, died on Flight 182.
He said the shooting “only brings back all the horrible memories we’ve had to go through for the last 37 years.”
“It’s like a nightmare that keeps giving,” he said.
AP