‘Young and dumb’ hit man apologizes for B.C. murder of 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 told a B.C. court he’s sorry for the killing, and he was “young and dumb” at the time.

Tanner Fox is facing a sentencing hearing in a New Westminster courtroom over his part in the hired killing of Malik, who was shot dead outside his business in Surrey, B.C., in July 2022.

Fox and accomplice Jose Lopez pleaded guilty to second-degree murder last October, with Fox scheduled to be sentenced Tuesday, and Lopez due back in court on Feb. 6.

Fox says of Malik that he knows nothing he says could “bring him back.”

Moments earlier, 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.

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.

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 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.”

Fox and Lopez both face mandatory life terms. Fowler urged the court to impose a 20-year period of parole ineligibility jointly proposed by Crown and defence lawyers.

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