1985 Air India bombing: 2 men charged in death of man acquitted

Two men have been charged with first-degree murder in the death of Ripudaman Singh Malik, the man acquitted in 2005 for the bombings of two Air India jets that killed 331 people.

Malik was shot in his vehicle in Surrey on July 14.

Police said Wednesday that Tanner Fox, 21, and Jose Lopez, 23, have been charged.

A vehicle with people inside had waited for hours that morning before Malik showed up and he was shot about 9.30 am, police said. The same vehicle, a white Honda CRV, was found burned not far from the scene of the shooting.

An employee who works at a nearby car wash said he heard shots on the morning Malik was killed and ran outside to find him unconscious in his red Tesla.

Malik and his co-accused, Ajaib Singh Bagri, were found not guilty of murder and conspiracy in the Air India bombings on June 23, 1985.

During Malik's trial, British Columbia Supreme Court heard that a suitcase bomb was loaded onto a plane at Vancouver's airport and then transferred in Toronto to Air India Flight 182. The aircraft crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Ireland, killing 329 passengers and crew.

About an hour later, a bomb destined for another Air India plane exploded prematurely at Tokyo's Narita Airport, where two baggage handlers died.

Also watch: Man acquitted in 1985 Air India bombing shot dead in Canada

Inderjit Singh Reyat, the only man convicted in the bombings, testified for the prosecution at Malik and Bagri's trial and was later convicted of perjury