Explained: Who was Ripudaman Singh Malik, the man acquitted in the 1985 AI bombing case, shot dead in Canada?

Ripudaman Singh Malik, 75, was one of the accused in the 1985 bombing of Air India’s Flight 182 Kanishka that killed 331 people, mostly from Toronto and Vancouver areas.

Canadian investigators believed a suitcase bomb was loaded onto a plane at Vancouver International Airport and then transferred in Toronto to Air India Flight 182 which exploded off the coast of Ireland, killing 329 passengers and crew. Malik and his co-accused, Ajaib Singh Bagri, were acquitted in 2005 of mass murder and conspiracy charges.

Malik spent four years in prison before his acquittal. He then sought $9.2 million as legal fees but a British Columbia judge rejected his claims for compensation.

Babbar Khalsa ‘links’

Ripudaman Malik was allegedly associated with the Babbar Khalsa, a terrorist outfit responsible for many terrorist incidents in Punjab. He was also a close associate of Talwinder Singh Parmar, the alleged mastermind of the Air India bombing. Parmar headed one of the Babbar Khalsa factions before being killed by the Punjab Police in 1992. Two of Parmar’s relatives used to work in one of Malik’s schools.

Life in Canada

Malik came to Canada in 1972 and started off as a cab driver. Later, as a successful businessman, he went on to become the president of a 16,000-member Vancouver-based Khalsa Credit Union (KCU) with assets worth over $110 million. Malik was the president of Satnam Education Society of British Columbia, Canada, and ran Khalsa schools, which besides teaching the Canadian syllabus, also taught Punjabi language and Sikh history.

India visit

Former DSGMC president Manjit Singh GK said Ripudaman Malik had gone back to Canada on June 6-7 after a fortnight-long visit to India. Earlier he had visited India in December 2019 after 25 years following the Narendra Modi government’s decision to remove his name from the ‘blacklist’.

The Indian government had removed 312 names of Sikhs living abroad from the 35-year-old blacklist in September 2019.

“Ripudaman had made a pilgrimage trip recently to Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Punjab and Maharashtra in the month of May after being granted multiple visa,” said Indian World Forum president Puneet Singh Chandhok.

Praise for BJP

Before the Punjab Assembly elections in February this year, Malik had written a letter to PM Narendra Modi, thanking him for the steps taken for the welfare of the Sikhs. His letter listed various pro-Sikh initiatives taken by the BJP government, including reopening of the 1984 riots cases.

In a separate message, he had warned against indulging in a “nefarious campaign” against the PM and had hinted that it was being orchestrated by a foreign power.

Later, the BJP had referred to his letter on the homepage of the party website along with his picture at the Golden Temple during his visit in 2019.