Mounties in British Columbia are set to provide a public briefing on the shocking killing of Ripudaman Singh Malik, who was acquitted in the 1985 Air India terrorist bombings.
RCMP are expected to brief media at 10 a.m. PT on the latest findings in their investigation of the homicide, which took place in Surrey’s Newton neighbourhood around 9:30 a.m. on Thursday.
Global News will carry the livestream on BC1, its website and Facebook page.
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Ripudaman Singh Malik, acquitted in 1985 Air India bombing, shot dead in Surrey, B.C.
Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri were acquitted in 2005 of mass murder and conspiracy charges related to the pair of Air India bombings that killed 331 people, mostly from the Toronto and Vancouver areas.
The attacks are the largest mass killing in Canadian history, and set off an international investigation that ended with just one person being convicted, and multitudes of criticism aimed at the RCMP and federal agencies.
On June 23, 1985, a bomb that had been planted on Air India Flight 182 exploded as the plane was mid-air over the Atlantic Ocean, nearing Ireland. No one survived, including the 268 Canadians aboard.
Two baggage handlers were killed not long after, when a bag exploded at Tokyo’s Narita International Airport as it was being transferred to Air India Flight 301.
Fifteen years later, after the conviction of bomb-maker Inderjit Singh Reyat and the death of Talwinder Singh Parmar, believed to have been the mastermind of the attack, Malik was arrested.
He and Bagri were charged with 329 counts of first-degree murder in the Air India Flight 182 bombing, as well as murder, attempted murder and conspiracy in connection with the Narita airport bombing.
Their nearly 20-month trial ended with an acquittal in 2005, in which a B.C. Supreme Court judge determined the primary witnesses were not credible and the evidence from RCMP and Crown had fallen “markedly short” of the threshold for conviction.
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