One of the two hitmen who killed a person accused in the 1985 Air India bombing was sentenced to life imprisonment in Canada on Tuesday, reported BBC.

Tanner Fox, 24, was sentenced by a British Columbia Supreme Court judge. He will not get parole for 20 years.

In October, Fox and Jose Lopez pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, or a homicide committed with intent, of Sikh businessman Ripudaman Singh Malik in 2022.

Lopez will be sentenced on Friday.

Fox apologised for his actions. “I am sorry for all the pain and hurt that I have caused,” he was quoted as having told the court.

Ahead of the sentencing, Malik’s family urged Fox to reveal who had hired the two hitmen for the murder, CBC News reported.

Malik was shot dead in Surrey in British Columbia province in July 2022. A burning car was also seen near the site of the shooting.

Matthew Stacey, the prosecutor, told the court that the murder of Malik was a “planned and deliberate killing”. The hitmen were financially compensated for the murder, CBC News quoted Stacey as saying.

However, the evidence has not proved who hired them.

Malik’s daughter-in-law Sundeep Kaur Dhaliwal told the court on Tuesday that the lack of answers about who hired the two men has left the family afraid for its safety.

Malik was accused of funding the bombing of Air India Flight 182 Kanishka on June 23, 1985. All 329 persons on board died after the flight operating on the Montreal-London-Delhi-Mumbai route exploded off the coast of Ireland. The victims included 280 Canadians and 86 children.

The incident remains Canada’s deadliest attack.

Malik was acquitted in the case in 2005 after a judge ruled that testimony against him and another accused Ajaib Singh Bagri, was not credible.

He had also visited India in December 2019 after his name was removed from those blacklisted from travelling to the country.