The MEA had informed Canada about the Lawrence Bishnoi gang and its syndicates and requested their provisional arrest and extradition some years back, and also recently.

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.

Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said this in response to a query during his weekly briefing as he fielded questions on India-Canada ties, a day after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau testified before a Commission of Inquiry.

Stating that the Canadian government has not taken any action on India's core concerns, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, "There is a political motive also behind this".

India had sought the extradition of Lawrence Bishnoi gang members from Canada but is yet to receive a response from Ottawa, the MEA said Thursday.

Canadian officials this week said Bishnoi’s gang was targeting Sikh dissidents at the behest of the Indian government.

Significantly, while rejecting Canada's allegations linking Indian diplomats to the killing of Khalistan separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, India also underlined its “strong and vibrant” economic ties with Canada.

India and Canada expelled six of each others' diplomats in tit-for-tat moves after Ottawa accused Indian government agents of links to the 2023 murder of a Sikh separatist leader near Vancouver. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP),