METRO VANCOUVER - A colourful admitted drug dealer who was a key Air India defence witness for Ripudaman Singh Malik will appear in Surrey Provincial Court Monday morning to face a first-degree murder charge.

Raminder Singh (Mindy) Bhandher, whose father Balwant remains a suspect in the 1985 terrorist bombing, allegedly entered the Surrey condo of a female friend on Jan. 28 and gunned down Tejvir Singh (Sunny) Bains, her young lover.

The woman, Ripy Kaur Jubbal, was the ex-girlfriend of one of Bhandher's closest criminal associates - Nachatar Singh Bagri - who was charged with uttering threats against Jubbal after the couple broke up last year.