Malik, once a suspect in an Air India bombing, was shot dead on Thursday in Surrey.
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About 80 minutes before controversial businessman Ripudaman Malik was shot dead on Thursday, a white Honda CRV was driving slowly through the parking lot outside the Surrey business where he was killed.
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Homicide investigators are now focused on the truck, which was found burning just six blocks away just after Malik was fatally injured around 9:26 p.m. outside 8236 128th St.
Sergeant David Lee, of the Homicide Integrated Investigation Team, played the short video for reporters at Surrey RCMP headquarters on Friday.
He did not comment on how many suspects are believed to have been in the Honda when it passed Malik’s office building around 8:11 a.m. the Lower Continent in recent years.
Lee urged the public not to jump to conclusions about the murder of Malik, a former Air India bombing suspect linked to the Sikh separatist movement, who was acquitted of all charges in March 2005.
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Malik was also one of the founders of the Khalsa Credit Union and the Satnam Education Society, which runs several independent schools and gets funding from the British Columbia government.
In fact, Malik used the school’s letterhead to write to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in January, offering his support and thanking Modi for trying to address outstanding issues related to the treatment of Sikhs in India.
Some criticized Malik for the letter, in which he also expressed his support for a united India in contrast to his previous support for separatism.
Lee said IHIT has “a number of investigative avenues available to us.”
“These are complex cases and I can’t say how long it might take. It could be two weeks, two months or two years; we can’t say because the investigation is ongoing right now,” Lee said.
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He urged any witnesses or people with video in the area of the shooting or the burning suspect vehicle to contact police.
Asked if some might hesitate to come forward in the case, Lee said now “is the time for witnesses to come forward.”
“There are questions about why this happened, a lot of speculation. We urge people not to speculate and we want to trade on facts and information,” she said.
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Ripudaman Singh Malik, acquitted in Air India bombing, had many enemies
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British Columbia man acquitted in Air India bombing travels to India
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The Malik family and the BC government are still fighting in court nearly a decade after Air India’s acquittal
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