‘Hired and paid’ hitmen killed ex-suspect in Air India blast case: court document

The day before Ripudaman Singh Malik was murdered in July 2022, a pair of hitmen showed up at his business in British Columbia, “surveyed the scene” for a few minutes before leaving.

The next morning, Tanner Fox and Jose Lopez reappeared at a business park in Surrey, British Columbia, and fired seven shots into Malik’s Tesla, killing him as he sat in the driver’s seat.

He sped away in a stolen car, which was later found on fire in a nearby alley.

Details of Malik’s slaying were laid out in an agreed statement of facts filed in British Columbia Supreme Court as Fox and Lopez await sentencing after pleading guilty to second-degree murder.

A statement released by the British Columbia prosecutor’s office confirmed the men were “hired and paid” but did not say who ordered the killing.

In 2005, Malik was acquitted in British Columbia Supreme Court along with his co-accused, Ajaib Singh Bagri, of charges related to the June 1985 bombings of two Air India planes that killed 331 people.

One bomb exploded over the ocean off Ireland, killing all 329 people on board, and the second exploded at Narita Airport in Japan, killing two porters.

A 2005 Canadian government report concluded that the bombings were carried out by Sikh-Khalistan separatists in Canada, including bomb maker Inderjit Singh Reyat, who was convicted of manslaughter.

According to the RCMP and the federal government, which expelled six Indian diplomats this month, India has recently been the victim of crimes, including killings and extortion, by members of the Canadian Khalistani movement in Canada.

The Canadian government previously said credible intelligence linked the Indian government to the killing of Khalistan activist Hardeep Singh Nijar last year. India denies these claims.

The statement of facts in the Malik case does not mention the Air India bombing, India, or the Sikh separatist movement.

It says Fox and Jose Lopez acted together to kill Malik, and the shooting that day sent people working nearby, including some of Malik’s co-workers, running for cover.

Both men were initially charged with first-degree murder, but pleaded guilty to a lesser charge last week and are expected to set a sentencing date at a hearing in New Westminster on Thursday.

The statement of facts explained how the movements of Fox and Lopez “were captured by various surveillance cameras and traffic cameras” on the day before and on the day of the murder.

It said the pair used a stolen vehicle and another car to carry out the murder, a white Honda CRV and a black Infiniti, while staying in touch in the run-up to the killing at a Surrey home “owned by a person unrelated to the murder”. “

The affidavit said the pair switched vehicle license plates, detailing what they were wearing, and established a schedule of their movements leading up to and following the targeted shooting.

Fox and Lopez were “hired and paid to kill” and used two handguns to take out the driver’s side of Malik’s car the morning he showed up for work, the statement said.

“The shots struck Mr. Malik from the left side and he was killed while still in the driver’s seat. Other than Mr. Fox and Mr. Lopez, there was no one at the crime scene responsible for shooting and killing Mr. Malik,” it said. in it

They fled in the stolen Honda to an alley in a residential area where they hid a black Infiniti, and video captured the Honda “in flames” after it was deliberately set on fire.

Surrey firefighters extinguished the blaze, which also ignited nearby bushes and a fence, the release said.

Police later seized a cell phone from the tenant of the apartment where Fox and Lopez went after the murder, and video from a door camera showed Fox carrying a Puma backpack.

A search of the bag turned up gloves, masks, two handguns, magazines and bullets, the statement said.

A pathologist who examined Malik’s body in the days after his murder found that all seven shots had hit him, “six of which were in the head and neck area.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on October 31, 2024.