Ripudaman Singh Malik’s visit to his birth country has been featured in the Indian media in recent days.
In March 2005, Malik, along with Ajaib Singh Bagri, was acquitted in the June 23, 1985 terrorism attack against India’s national airline that left 331 dead.
Two bomb-laden suitcases were checked in at Vancouver Airport and tagged for Air India flights heading in opposite directions around the globe. One exploded at Tokyo’s Narita Airport killing two baggage handlers. The second blew up aboard Air India Flight 182, killing all 329 aboard.
Evidence at Malik and Bagri’s trial pointed to a conspiracy by B.C. Sikh separatists to retaliate for the Indian government’s attack in June 1984 on the Golden Temple, Sikhism’s holiest shrine.
The only man convicted in the bombing plot, Inderjit Singh Reyat, was later found guilty of perjury for lying at Malik and Bagri’s trial.
Despite his acquittal 14 years ago, Malik, now 72, was unable to get a visa to return to India, where The Vancouver Sun interviewed his extended family in 2003.
But in September, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi removed 312 names of Sikhs living abroad from the 35-year-old blacklist. Only two names remain.
Ripudaman Singh Malik, circa 2001. One of the co-accused in the 1985 Air India bombing, he was acquitted in 2005.
Ripudaman Singh Malik, circa 2001. One of the co-accused in the 1985 Air India bombing, he was acquitted in 2005. PNG FILES
Leaders of the Babbar Khalsa, Dal Khalsa and other groups banned as terrorists in India have been returning to their homeland from the U.K., Germany, France and North America.
Former Liberal MLA Dave Hayer, whose journalist father was murdered after agreeing to be an Air India witness, said Monday that he is surprised by India’s reversal on former militants and extremists returning to the country.
And he said it is too bad Malik would not first provide Canadian investigators with information about his former associates that might aid ongoing cases.
09/12/19 Kim Bolan/Vancouver Sun
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In March 2005, Malik, along with Ajaib Singh Bagri, was acquitted in the June 23, 1985 terrorism attack against India’s national airline that left 331 dead.
Two bomb-laden suitcases were checked in at Vancouver Airport and tagged for Air India flights heading in opposite directions around the globe. One exploded at Tokyo’s Narita Airport killing two baggage handlers. The second blew up aboard Air India Flight 182, killing all 329 aboard.
Evidence at Malik and Bagri’s trial pointed to a conspiracy by B.C. Sikh separatists to retaliate for the Indian government’s attack in June 1984 on the Golden Temple, Sikhism’s holiest shrine.
The only man convicted in the bombing plot, Inderjit Singh Reyat, was later found guilty of perjury for lying at Malik and Bagri’s trial.
Despite his acquittal 14 years ago, Malik, now 72, was unable to get a visa to return to India, where The Vancouver Sun interviewed his extended family in 2003.
But in September, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi removed 312 names of Sikhs living abroad from the 35-year-old blacklist. Only two names remain.
Ripudaman Singh Malik, circa 2001. One of the co-accused in the 1985 Air India bombing, he was acquitted in 2005.
Ripudaman Singh Malik, circa 2001. One of the co-accused in the 1985 Air India bombing, he was acquitted in 2005. PNG FILES
Leaders of the Babbar Khalsa, Dal Khalsa and other groups banned as terrorists in India have been returning to their homeland from the U.K., Germany, France and North America.
Former Liberal MLA Dave Hayer, whose journalist father was murdered after agreeing to be an Air India witness, said Monday that he is surprised by India’s reversal on former militants and extremists returning to the country.
And he said it is too bad Malik would not first provide Canadian investigators with information about his former associates that might aid ongoing cases.
09/12/19 Kim Bolan/Vancouver Sun
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