Ripudaman Singh Malik, who was acquitted in the 1985 Air India bombing case, was on Thursday shot dead by unidentified miscreants in Surrey in Canada’s British Columbia province.

Ripudaman’s brother in law, Jaspal Singh, confirmed the news and said, “We are uncertain about who killed Ripudaman. His younger sister is on her way to Canada."

Ripudaman was one of the persons who was accused of playing a crucial role in the bombing of Air India Flight 182 Kanishka.

On June 23, 1985, a bomb exploded on Air India Flight 182 "Kanishka" from Canada off the coast of Ireland killing 329 passengers and crew. This included over 280 Canadian citizens including 29 entire families and 86 children under the age of 12.

It may be mentioned that Ripudaman was allegedly associated with Babbar Khalsa, a terrorist outfit responsible for many terrorist incidents in Punjab and was also a close associate of Talwinder Singh Parmar, the alleged mastermind of the Air India bombing.

Babbar Khalsa is an international terrorist organisation and is banned by several countries including the US, Canada and India.

Malik and his co-accused, Ajaib Singh Bagri, were acquitted in 2005 of mass murder and conspiracy charges. Notably, Malik spent four years in prison before his acquittal and later asked for USD 9.2 million as legal fees, however, a British Columbia judge rejected his claims for compensation.

The terrorist bombing of the AI Flight 182 remains the worst terrorist attack on Canada to date.

The majority of the victims were Canadians, and the bombing was the result of a conspiracy conceived, planned and executed in Canada.