Profile of accused - Ripudaman Singh Malik

Ripudaman Singh Malik, hailing from Punjab and currently based in British Columbia is one of the two terrorists remanded to judicial custody in Vancouver, British Columbia. Malik belongs to Babbar Khalsa, a terrorist outfit responsible for many terrorist incidents in Punjab. He was also a close associate of Talwinder Singh Parmar, who headed one of the Babbar Khalsa factions before being killed by the Punjab Police in 1992. Malik, who came to Canada in 1972 started off as a cab driver to later became a wealthy businessman. According to Canadian sources, he is believed to have assisted in funding the bombing of the Kanishka.

Malik is currently the President of a 16,000-member Vancouver based Khalsa Credit Union (KCU) that reportedly has assets worth $110 million. Canadian authorities have indicated that Malik manages two Khalsa educational institutions that receives financial assistance from the government of British Columbia. These educational institutions and the KCU have on many occasions been controversial due to the monetary assistance they have reportedly provided to the widow of Talvinder Singh Parmar. News sources in Canada have reported that Malik has contributed financially to the Federal Liberal Party and has also attended fundraising functions for the Canadian Premier Jean Chretien. It is alleged that Malik has contacts with Ujjal Dosanjh, the Indo-Canadian Premier of British Columbia who was also the Attorney-General in British Columbia during the RCMP investigations. Sources in Canada have said that the RCMP conducted extensive raids in 1999 on KCU to scrutinize the activities of the International Sikh Youth Federation who held their meetings at the KCU-affiliated Khalsa school. Malik alongwith Ajaib Singh Bagri belong to the fundamentalist wing of the Sikh community in Canada and are reported to have waged a often violent clash with the more moderate functions for the control of lucrative gurudwaras.