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A man acquitted over a terrorist bombing that killed 329 people aboard an Air India flight in 1985 has been shot dead in what Canadian authorities have described as a possible targeted shooting.
Key points:
- Ripudaman Singh Malik was found not guilty of murder over the downing of an Air India jet
- He was found dying in his car outside a car wash
- A man whose sisters were killed in the Air India attack called it "a nightmare that never stops giving"
Jaspreet Malik confirmed the death of his father, Ripudaman Singh Malik, in a statement on social media on Thursday.
"The media will always refer to him as someone charged with the Air India bombing," he wrote.
"The media and RCMP [Royal Canadian Mounted Police] never seemed to accept the court's decision and I pray today's tragedy is not related."
In March 2005, Mr Malik and his co-accused, Ajaib Singh Bagri, were found not guilty of murder and conspiracy in a pair of bombings targeting Air India planes on June 23, 1985.
A witness who works at a car wash in the city of Surrey, British Columbia, said he heard shots on Thursday morning and ran outside to find Mr Malik unconscious in his car.
The RCMP said a man died in what appeared to be a targeted attack, but they did not identify the victim.
A vehicle believed to be used in the shooting was found burning a few blocks away.
"The investigation is in the early stages and police are still looking for the suspects and a second vehicle that may have been used as getaway vehicle," a statement from police said.
What happened in the Air India bombings?
Mr Malik's trial in British Columbia's Supreme Court heard that a suitcase bomb was loaded onto a plane at Vancouver's airport and then transferred in Toronto to Air India Flight 182.
The aircraft crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Ireland, killing all 329 passengers and crew.
About an hour later, a bomb destined for another Air India plane exploded prematurely at Tokyo's Narita Airport, where two baggage handlers died.
Inderjit Singh Reyat, the only man convicted in the bombings, testified for the prosecution at Mr Malik and Mr Bagri's trial and was later convicted of perjury.
Ontario man Deepak Khandelwal was 17 when his two sisters, 21-year-old Chandra and 19-year-old Manju, were killed on Flight 182.
He said the the shooting "just brings back all the horrible memories we'd had to go through for the last 37 years".
"It's like a nightmare that never stops giving," he said.
AP