Amarinder urges Centre to take up extradition of 10 NRIs

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has urged the Centre to take up with the authorities in Canada the issue of extradition of at least 10 Non-Resident Indians who are proclaimed offenders in various drugs cases in the State and have taken refuge in Canada.

In separate letters to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, the Chief Minister has said the extradition process had been pending in these cases for the past 3-4 years, thus scuttling the State government’s efforts to bring the accused to justice.

“The State government had decided to aggressively pursue the extradition of these suspects as their custodial interrogation was vital to establish the entire chain of the drugs network in Punjab and to expose those allegedly patronising the trade,” an official spokesperson shared with media in Chandigarh quoting the letter.

The Congress government in Punjab had already scaled up its efforts for their extradition, as part of its war on drugs, but was obstructed as these cases were still pending at various levels, it added.