A 21-year-old hitman who admitted to the 2022 murder of Air India bombing suspect Ripudaman Singh Malik has been sentenced to life in prison. The B.C. Supreme Court handed down the sentence Tuesday.
Tanner Fox was told by the New Westminster court he has no chance of parole for 25 years.
Fox, who entered the guilty plea last year in connection to the July 2022 murder of Malik, appeared in court alongside his defence team on Tuesday where he apologized for his actions.
“I know nothing I say will bring him back and I’m sorry for the role I played in this crime. Not a day goes by that I don’t feel remorse for my actions,” said Fox. “I’ve grown to see the error of my ways, and I’m sorry for all the hurt and pain I’ve caused.”
The victim, Malik, was a well-known figure in Surrey and the larger Sikh diaspora community.
Acquitted for his suspected involvement in the 1985 Air India bombings that killed 331, Malik long maintained his innocence in connection to the tragic event before being shot and killed on July 14, 2022 in the parking lot of a Surrey business complex.
Fox and another man convicted in the murder shot Malik seven times outside his clothing business at 8236 128th St. before parking a stolen Honda CRV into a laneway and lighting it on fire.
According to at least one source, Malik was set to meet with representatives with the government of India just moments before his murder.
In a statement made after Fox’s sentencing, Malik’s son, Jaspreet Singh Malik, pleaded with Fox and his alleged co-conspirator to “do the right thing (and) tell the RCMP who hired you.”
Neither Fox nor his alleged co-conspirator have provided any information on who might have hired them, although Fox and his alleged co-conspirator in the murder had a now infamous brawl in the prisoners’ box of a New Westminster courtroom in October.
Authorities have not revealed the full details of the motive behind the murder, but speculation has persisted regarding possible involvement of the government of India.
