Canada based Sikh leader and businessman Ripudaman Singh Malik has been shot dead in Surrey on Thursday morning.
RCMP were called to the Newton neighbourhood of Surrey, B.C., over reports of gunfire around 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, and arrived to find a man suffering from gunshot wounds.
“The man was provided first aid by attending officers until Emergency Health Services took over his care,” Const. Sarbjit Sangha said in a news release.
Homicide investigators are now trying to figure out who killed the controversial community leader, one-time terror suspect, wealthy businessman and founder of both the Khalsa Credit Union and Khalsa Schools.
Who was Ripudaman Singh Malik?
He was one of the accused in the 1985 bombing of Air India’s Flight 182 Kanishka that killed 331 people, mostly from the Toronto and Vancouver areas. Canadian investigators believed a suitcase bomb was loaded onto a plane at Vancouver International Airport and then transferred in Toronto to Air India Flight 182 which exploded off the coast of Ireland, killing 329 passengers and crew.
He was wrongly charged and the Court concluded there was no evidence against him. Malik and his co-accused, Ajaib Singh Bagri, were acquitted in 2005 of mass murder and conspiracy charges. Malik spent four years in prison before his acquittal. He then sought $9.2 million as legal fees but a British Columbia judge rejected his claims for compensation.
Malik came to Canada in 1972 and started off as a cab driver. Later, as a successful businessman, he went on to become the President of a 16,000-member Vancouver based Khalsa Credit Union (KCU) with assets worth over $110 million.
He founded the Khalsa Credit Union and Khalsa School, which is now the largest private school in BC.
Apart from the Vancouver Education Board curriculum, the Khalsa school also teaches Punjabi language and culture. During summer vacations, students take classes in the Sikh religion, including kirtan.
Ripudaman Singh Malik was the president of Satnam Education Society of B.C., Canada, and ran Khalsa schools, which besides teaching the Canadian syllabus, also taught Punjabi language and Sikh history.
He is survived by his wife, 5 children, 4 daughter-in-laws, and 8 grandchildren.