A British Columbia Supreme Court judge has sentenced Tanner Fox, 24, to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 20 years for the murder of Ripudaman Singh Malik. The sentencing took place on Tuesday, following an emotional plea from Malik’s family for Fox to reveal the identity of the person who hired him.
Fox, along with his co-accused Jose Lopez, pleaded guilty in October to the second-degree murder of Malik, a businessman who had been acquitted in 2005 of charges related to the 1985 Air India bombings. Lopez is set to be sentenced on Friday.
On July 14, 2022, Malik was shot multiple times while sitting in his car outside his family business in Surrey, British Columbia. Investigators later found a burnt-out vehicle nearby, believed to be connected to the murder. Prosecutor Matthew Stacey told the court that Fox and Lopez carried out the “deliberate killing” for financial compensation. However, the prosecution was unable to determine who had contracted them for the murder.
The killing of Malik occurred more than a decade after he had been acquitted in one of Canada’s most notorious terrorist attacks. On June 23, 1985, Air India Flight 182 exploded off the Irish coast, killing all 329 people on board, most of them Canadian citizens of Indian descent. A second bomb, intended for another Air India flight, exploded prematurely at Tokyo’s Narita Airport, killing two baggage handlers.
The bombings, allegedly carried out by Canada-based Sikh militants in retaliation for India’s 1984 storming of the Golden Temple, remain Canada’s deadliest act of terrorism. Following a lengthy trial, Malik and his co-accused, Ajaib Singh Bagri, were acquitted in 2005 after a judge ruled that key witness testimonies lacked credibility.
During the sentencing, Malik’s family members addressed the court, urging Fox to disclose the identity of those who had orchestrated the killing. “We plead with you to reveal the names of the people who hired you,” said Malik’s daughter-in-law, Sundeep Kaur Dhaliwal.
She expressed the family’s lingering fear and anxiety, stating, “This fear and anxiety comes from not knowing who hired you. Are we next?”
Fox, who was born in Thailand and adopted by a Canadian family at the age of three, offered an apology in court for his actions. His lawyer, Richard Fowler, stated, “It’s impossible to say where he went awry, went wrong in his youth that took him to this horrible offence.”
Despite his remorse, the sentencing leaves unanswered questions about the true mastermind behind Malik’s murder. As Fox begins his life sentence, Malik’s family continues to seek justice, hoping that those responsible for orchestrating the killing will one day be held accountable.
