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Hitman sentenced for murder of 1985 Air India Bombing suspect
Fox and his associate, Jose Lopez, pleaded guilty last October to the second-degree murder of Malik, who was shot dead outside his business in Surrey, British Columbia, on July 14, 2022
Representative Image / Image- Pexels
A contract killer convicted of murdering Ripudaman Singh Malik, a former suspect in the 1985 Air India bombing case, was sentenced to life in prison on Jan. 28 in Canada.
Tanner Fox, 24, will serve a minimum of 20 years before becoming eligible for parole, CBS news reported citing court documents.
Fox and his associate, Jose Lopez, pleaded guilty last October to the second-degree murder of Malik, who was shot dead outside his business in Surrey, British Columbia, on July 14, 2022. The pair admitted to carrying out the assassination for financial compensation but have refused to disclose who hired them.
During the sentencing hearing at the B.C. Supreme Court, Malik’s family pleaded for justice. "We plead with you to reveal the names of the people who hired you," Malik's daughter-in-law, Sundeep Kaur Dhaliwal, said in court, addressing Fox directly. "This is the right thing to do," she added, according to CBS News.
The court heard that Fox and Lopez stole a Honda CR-V weeks before the killing, later swapping its license plates to avoid detection. On the day of the attack, the two men shot Malik multiple times as he sat in his car. They then torched the getaway vehicle before being tracked down by authorities.
Crown prosecutor Matthew Stacey described the crime as a "planned and deliberate killing" carried out for financial gain. Lopez, Fox’s co-accused, is scheduled to appear in court on Feb. 6, CBS news reported.
Who was Malik?
Malik, a businessman and community leader, was acquitted in 2005 of charges related to the Air India Flight 182 bombing, which killed 329 people off the coast of Ireland on June.23,1985. The attack remains the deadliest act of aviation terrorism before 9/11.
Despite being cleared due to lack of evidence, Malik remained a polarizing figure. His son, Jaspreet Singh Malik, criticized media portrayals linking him to the bombing.
The motive and people behind Malik’s murder remain unclear, fueling fear within his family. "This fear and anxiety come from not knowing who hired you," Dhaliwal said in court. "Are we next?"
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