Assassins of B.C. man acquitted of Air India bombing ‘hired and paid’: court document

Court documents in the case of two men who murdered British Columbia businessman Ripudaman Singh Malik in 2022 say they were “hired and paid” to kill him.

However, the agreed statement of facts does not say who hired them to kill Malik, who was acquitted in 2005 in a B.C. court of the Air India bombings that killed 331 people in 1985.

The statement provided by the BC Prosecution Service says Tanner Fox and Jose Lopez acted together to kill Malik, using a stolen car they set on fire after riddling the victim with bullets as he sat in his Tesla on July 14, 2022.

It says Fox and Lopez went to the Surrey complex where Malik owned a business the day before the murder, “scoping out the location” for several minutes.

The statement says Fox and Lopez fired a total of seven shots into Malik’s vehicle when he arrived for work in Surrey, B.C., killing him and causing people nearby to run for cover when the shots were fired.

Both men were originally charged with first-degree murder but pleaded guilty last week in B.C. Supreme Court to second-degree murder, and a hearing in New Westminster on Thursday is expected to fix a date for their sentencing.

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

Darryl Greer, The Canadian Press