Oct. 22 (UPI) — Two men charged with the shooting death of Ripudaman Singh Malik, who was acquitted of the 1985 bombing of Air India Flight 182, have pleaded guilty to charges of second-degree murder.
The defendants — Tanner Fox and Jose Lopez — entered their guilty pleas Monday in the B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster, ahead of the start of their murder trials, CBC reported.
However, as the proceedings came to a close, Lopez attacked Fox, and the two fought each other as the family members of their victim looked on, Vancouver Sun reported.
Sheriffs managed to break up the fight and handcuff the two men.
The cause of the fight was not clear, but the pair are set to return to court at a later date for sentencing, though their guilty pleas come with life sentences.
They were arrested and charged in late July 2022, days after Malik was gunned down in the parking lot of a Surrey business complex.
In 2005, Malik was one of two people acquitted of murder in Canada in connection to Air India Flight 182, which exploded over the Atlantic, killing all 329 people aboard.
Inderjit Singh Reyat pleaded guilty to manslaughter charges in 2003 for his role in the bombing and was convicted of perjury in 2010 for his testimony as Crown witness in the trial of Malik and his co-defendant, Ajaib Singh Bagri, who was the other suspect acquitted.
During the reading of an agreed statement of facts on Monday, prosecutor Matthew Stacey said Fox and Lopez had been hired to kill Malik, though no details about who hired them or the potential motive were given.
Malik’s family said in a statement to media following Monday’s court proceedings that while they are grateful those responsible for Malik’s death will be held accountable, it will not “erase the pain that we have gone through losing a family member in this way.”
“However, the work is not complete. Tanner Fox and Jose Lopez were hired to commit this murder. Until the parties responsible for hiring them and directing this assassination are brought to justice, the work remains incomplete,” the family said, as they urged Fox and Lopez to cooperate with Canadian law enforcement bring those who hired them to justice.
The announcement comes about a week after Canadian authorities accused Indian agents of committing “serious criminal activity” in the North American nation.
The federal Royal Canadian Mounted Police said there were more than a dozen credible and imminent threats to life targeting members of its South Asian community, specifically members of the separatist Khalistan movement, which seeks to create a separate homeland for Sikhs in India’s Punjab region.
Among the crimes include the June 18, 2023, assassination of Khalistan supporter Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
