OTTAWA: Two men accused of killing Ripudaman Singh Malik, a Sikh man acquitted in the 1985 Air India Kanishka terrorist bombing case, have pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in a Canadian court, according to media reports.Tanner Fox and Jose Lopez entered the pleas in the British Columbia (BC) Supreme Court on Monday on the eve of their trial for the killing of 75-year-old Malik, who was shot several times outside his family business on the morning of July 14, 2022.Malik was shot dead in Surrey, British Columbia in 2022.He and co-accused Ajaib Singh Bagri were acquitted in 2005 of mass murder and conspiracy charges related to the two bombings in 1985 that killed 331 people.In the court in New Westminster on Monday, both Fox and Lopez pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of second-degree murder, the Global News reported. The court heard an agreed statement of facts that revealed the two men had been hired to kill Malik, the report added.”What we know from the agreed statement of facts is that there was some type of financial incentive that was involved in the commission of this crime, but in terms of any other specifics, it is another one of those situations where unfortunately it is just something that we as people on the outside will probably never know, Lopez’ lawyer Gloria Ng told Global News.One of the things we certainly have in the forefront of our minds is the youth of our client Lopez is a very young man and we are certainly hopeful with prospects for rehabilitation.
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