India had sought extradition of Lawrence Bishnoi gang members from Canada a few years back, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Thursday.
During a press briefing, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that similar extradition requests of syndicates linked to the Bishnoi gang were made recently as well, but Canada has not responded yet.
The MEA gave names of Gurjit Singh, Gurjinder Singh, Arshdeep Singh Gill, Lakhbir Singh Landa, Gurpreet Singh for extradition, saying that the members of the Bishnoi gang were among them.
"We informed Canada about the Lawrence Bishnoi gang and its syndicates and requested their provisional arrest and extradition some years back, and also recently. However, there has been no response from Canada so far", he said.
During the briefing, the MEA spokesperson reiterated that Canada did not share any evidence in connection with the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
"We have made our position very clear on this particular matter. You would have seen that several press releases have been issued in the last two days putting out our position. Since September 2023, the Canadian government has not shared any shred of information with us", he asserted.
The External Affairs Ministry also said that Canada always brought forth 'freedom of speech' as their argument whenever India sought action against anti-India and separatist elements.
The government's statement came a day after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau named gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, who was earlier mentioned by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) for being involved in the murder of Nijjar in September last year.
Trudeau alleged that Indian diplomats were collecting information on Canadians and passing it to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang.
Trudeau, who testified before the country's foreign interference inquiry, claimed that the Canadian agencies tried to work behind the scenes with India before he went public with the allegations in the Nijjar killing.
However, during the same testimony, Trudeau admitted that his government only provided "intelligence and no proof" to India over the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar on Canadian soil.
India-Canada diplomatic relations hit a new low earlier this week when Canada announced that top Indian diplomats in Ottawa were 'persons of interest', as far as its investigation into Nijjar's killing was concerned.
India rejected Canada's stand and, in retaliation, recalled six of its top diplomats from Canada, including High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma.
In a tit-for-tat series of actions, Canada expelled six Indian diplomats, prompting India to return the favour.
Source: India Today