Life sentence for ‘young and dumb’ hit man who killed former Air India suspect Malik

By Canadian Press on January 28, 2025.

NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C. — One of the hit men who murdered former Air India bombing suspect Ripudaman Singh Malik has received a mandatory life sentence, without the possibility of parole for 20 years.

Tanner Fox told the BC Supreme Court hearing in New Westminster on Tuesday that he was sorry, and was “young and dumb” at the time of the hired killing.

The sentence is in line with a joint recommendation from defence and Crown lawyers.

Malik was shot dead outside his business in Surrey, B.C., in July 2022, and while Fox and accomplice Jose Lopez pleaded guilty to second-degree murder last October, the identity of those who ordered the hit has never been publicly revealed.

Lopez is due back in court on Feb. 6.

Malik’s son, Jaspreet Singh Malik, said Fox’s sentence gives a “small sense of relief,” but those who hired the killers remain at large.

“The only question that remains now is who hired Mr. Fox and Mr. Lopez,” he said outside the court.

In brief remarks to the court about Malik’s death, Fox said he knew nothing he said could “bring him back.”

Malik, who was acquitted of charges related to the 1985 Air India bombing, was shot dead in his Tesla at a Surrey business park on July 14, 2022.

The court heard victim impact statements from Malik’s daughter Kirat Kaur Malik and daughter-in-law Sundeep Kaur Dhaliwal, who described him as a loving and dedicated father who valued education and family.

Malik says her father loved his family “unconditionally” and was a “pillar” of the Sikh community, while Dhaliwal addressed Fox directly and urged him to reveal who hired him to “erase” Malik’s legacy.

“Mr. Fox, our father was kind, and you took that kindness out of our life,” she said.

Fox and Lopez, who were both in their early 20s at the time of the killing, were originally charged with first-degree murder less than two weeks after the killing.

They later admitted to the lesser charge of second-degree murder.

Fox’s lawyer Richard Fowler told the court on Tuesday that the young hit man was adopted by his Canadian parents from Thailand when he was three years old.

“They obviously did all they could,” Fowler told the court.

Fowler told the court that Fox grew up in Abbotsford and was a decent student in high school, though it was impossible to say where he went “awry.”

An agreed statement of facts provided by the BC Prosecution Service says Fox and Lopez were “hired and paid” to carry out the murder, but police and prosecutors have not revealed who they believe hired the pair to assassinate the Sikh businessman.

In 2005, Malik was acquitted in B.C. Supreme Court along with his co-accused, Ajaib Singh Bagri, of charges related to the bombings aimed at two Air India planes that killed 331 people in June 1985.

One bomb blew up over the ocean off Ireland, killing all 329 on board, while the second device exploded at Narita airport in Japan, killing two baggage handlers.

A 2005 Canadian government report concluded the bombings were carried out by Sikh Khalistani separatists in Canada, including bomb maker Inderjit Singh Reyat, who was convicted of manslaughter.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 28, 2025.

Darryl Greer, The Canadian Press