Vancouver, July 31 - A school being run by a society set up by Ripudaman Singh Malik, a suspect acquitted in the Air India Kanishka bombing, was destroyed in a fire. Arson is suspected.

The gutted Khalsa School is one three religious-education institutions run by the Satnam Education Society set up by Malik -- one the two suspects acquitted in the Air India Kanishka bombing in June 1985 that killed all 329 passengers.

The fire started at 7.30 a.m. Thursday and consumed the whole building before fire brigades could control it.

Eight of the 10 portable classrooms and a small gurdwara inside the school were destroyed in the fire.

Eyewitnesses said the fire started at four places.

The school authorities said the holy book Guru Granth Sahib was found undamaged after the fire was extinguished.

Though the cause of the fire in not yet known, fire department officials suspected arson.