TORONTO: The son of Ripudaman Singh Malik, one of the men accused of having a role in the 1985 Air India bombing, has been officially warned by the national police service of Canada that his life could be under threat, CBC News reported.

Hardeep Malik, a businessman in Surrey, British Col­umbia, is the son of Ripudaman, who was acquitted in 2005 of mass murder and conspiracy charges related to a pair of bombings in 1985 that killed 331 people. He was gunned down outside his office in Surrey on July 14, 2022. Two men have since been charged with his murder.

The warning to the slain Sikh leader’s son Hardeep came as investigators probed possible Indian government links to Ripudaman Singh Malik’s 2022 killing.

CBC News reported that investigators from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) — are currently looking into the possibility that the government of India was behind the killing of the wealthy and controversial businessman.

The widow of the assassinated man and several of his family members were travelling in France last week when the RCMP delivered a letter to Hardeep, warning him that his life could be in danger.

The RCMP issues ‘Duty to Warn’ letters under a Bri­tish Columbia law that directs authorities to notify people when they become aware of a threat to their safety.

Several people associated with the Sikh separatist movement in British Columbia have received such notices. Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar had also received a similar warning letter before he was killed in June 2023.

Meanwhile, a Czech court has rejected Nikhil Gupta’s petition against his extradition to the US over an alleged plot to assassinate an American citizen in New York.

Published in Dawn, May 24th, 2024