Two plead guilty in Canada for killing man acquitted in Air India bombing

Ripudaman Singh Malik, acquitted in 2005 of the attack that killed 329 people, was shot dead in British Columbia in 2022.

Two men have pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in a Canadian court for their role in the killing of Sikh businessman Ripudaman Singh Malik, who was acquitted of the 1985 bombing of an Air India flight.

Malik and a co-defendant were found not guilty of murder and conspiracy in the June 23, 1985, bombing of the plane that caused it to crash in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Ireland, killing all 329 passengers and crew. It remains Canada’s worst air disaster to date.

On the same day, another bomb went off in a Tokyo airport, killing two Japanese baggage handlers. That bomb was believed to have targeted another Air India flight to Bangkok before exploding prematurely.

Tanner Fox and Jose Lopez entered their guilty plea on Monday in the British Columbia Supreme Court in New Westminster in the 2022 shooting death of 75-year-old Malik.

The two, who were originally charged with first-degree murder, are scheduled to be sentenced on October 31.