Mounties warn son of man acquitted in Air India bombing that his life may be in danger
CBC
The son of a man who was accused in the Air India bombing of 1985 has been officially warned by the RCMP that his life could be under threat, CBC News has learned.
Hardeep Malik, a businessman in Surrey, B.C., is the son of Ripudaman Singh Malik, who was acquitted in 2005 of mass murder and conspiracy charges related to a pair of bombings in 1985 that killed 331 people.
Singh Malik was gunned down outside his office in Surrey on July 14, 2022. Two men have since been charged in his murder.
CBC News has learned RCMP investigators have been probing whether the government of India was behind the killing of the wealthy and controversial businessman. They believe India's government was involved in last year's targeted killing of prominent Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
Singh Malik's widow and several other family members were travelling in France last week when the RCMP delivered a letter to Hardeep Malik warning him that his life could be in danger from a criminal conspiracy.
The RCMP issues "Duty to Warn" letters under a B.C. law that directs authorities to notify people when they become aware of a threat to their safety. The legislation that governs such notifications says the danger "must be a risk that is likely to happen."
Several people associated with the Sikh separatist movement in British Columbia have received such notices. Nijjar got one before he was killed in June 2023.
The reported threat against Hardeep Malik could support the theory that the Indian government's alleged campaign of assassination in Canada did not begin with Nijjar's killing on June 18, 2023.
CBC News has seen evidence that suggests an Indian diplomat was in close contact with Ripudaman Singh Malik by phone and text in the hours leading up to his shooting — as reported in March in the Fifth Estate documentary Contract to Kill.
Investigators have been looking into whether the contacts with the diplomat had anything to do with Singh Malik's death at the hands of two alleged B.C. gangsters.
CBC News has spoken with senior investigative and government sources, as well as members of the Sikh community. The investigative and government sources spoke with CBC News on the condition that they not be named due to the sensitivity of the matter. CBC News has also agreed to protect the identity of some sources in the Sikh community due to concerns for their personal security.
Singh Malik died in a hail of gunfire in the Newton area of Surrey. Some suspected he was the target of internecine feuds between current and former Sikh separatists, or the victim of a business dispute, because he had already made peace with the government of India a few years earlier.
Indian government sources quoted in Indian media pushed that narrative. India issued Singh Malik a visa and allowed him to return home and visit family in the Punjab in 2019.
Few would see Singh Malik as an innocent bystander in the violent dispute between Khalistani militants and the government of India.
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