Posted on 03/18/2005 8:41:44 AM PST by concrete is my business
Vancouver — A day after he was acquitted of the worst mass murder in Canada's history, Vancouver businessman Ripudaman Singh Malik is once again dealing with the police.
However this time, he is the victim of crime.
Five men broke into his downtown clothing business early yesterday morning. A surveillance camera at the business caught the men on tape and the security system registered when they came in and when they left. A fire broke out before 6 a.m. yesterday.
Vancouver police, who seized the surveillance tapes, indicated the men were "street people," Mr. Malik's son Jaspreet said yesterday in an interview.
However Jaspreet Singh Malik wondered whether the men were RCMP officers planting listening devices.
Police said the street people were in the building for about 10 minutes. They made a mess, took a camera and tried to start a fire before leaving, he said.
Mr. Malik said he felt it was "very implausible" that five street people got together to break in. He questioned why they would take only a camera.
If they were stealing things of some value, he asked why they would not take the computers.
Mr. Malik said break-ins have occurred previously at the business. But on those occasions, a single individual had entered the building, grabbed something and left a minute later. "It was not five people who stayed for 10 minutes," he said.
"The RCMP had bugged the office before, so who knows?" he also said, referring to police measures taken during the lengthy Air-India investigation.
However, RCMP spokesman John Ward said Mr. Malik's suspicions were groundless. "No, we don't do that. I cannot be any stronger than that," he said in an interview.
Papillon Eastern Imports Ltd., which imports and distributes women's clothing, is located in Yaletown, a gentrified warehouse district on the edge of downtown.
Constable Tim Fanning, of the Vancouver Police Department, confirmed that police were actively investigating the break-in and attempted arson. No other details were available, he said.
During the first day of their freedom, both Mr. Malik and Kamloops sawmill worker Ajaib Singh Bagri stayed out of the spotlight. Several supporters and well-wishers came to their homes to see them. Friends said they were trying to put their lives back together, after 4½ years in jail.
Mr. Bagri has been on a leave-of-absence from the sawmill since his arrest on Oct. 27, 2000. He is expected to return to his job at the mill.
Mr. Bagri and Mr. Malik were acquitted on Wednesday of charges of mass murder in the deaths of 329 people killed on June 23, 1985, in a mid-air explosion aboard an Air-India flight off the coast of Ireland and the deaths of two baggage handlers 54 minutes earlier in a bomb explosion at Tokyo's Narita airport.
Mr. Justice Ian Bruce Josephson of the B.C. Supreme Court decided that witnesses testifying against Mr. Malik and Mr. Bagri were not credible. The judge also disregarded testimony from several RCMP officers, saying their evidence did not meet the standard required by the court.
After the judge gave his decision, the RCMP said the investigation into the mass murder continues and that 15 officers are working full-time on the case.
Not too quick are they, where the hell is a street person going to plug in a computer?...no chance in pawning it off or parting a computer out either...
ping
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