Two Canadian citizens accused of arranging the murder of a Maple Ridge woman in India 18 years ago have been extradited to that country to face trial.
The Department of Justice Canada confirmed Thursday that Malkit Sidhu and Surjit Badesha were extradited to India on Jan. 23. Both Badesha and Sidhu were escorted to India by the RCMP, arriving safely around 6 p.m. ET Wednesday.
After meeting with Canadian consular officials from the High Commission in Delhi, they were turned over to the custody of the Punjab Police.
Jaswinder (Jassi) Kaur Sidhu, 25, was kidnapped and murdered in the Punjab in 2000, allegedly for defying her family and marrying a poor rickshaw driver in secret.
Her mother, Sidhu, and uncle, Badesha, were accused of masterminding the so-called honour killing and hiring hit men to carry it out.
Jassi’s husband, Sukhwinder (Mithu) Singh Sidhu, was attacked with swords but survived.
Sidhu and Badesha were nearly extradited in 2017, but a last-minute court ruling kept them in Canada for a further hearing.
The pair’s lawyer had argued that they would face torture if extradited to India, but last month, the B.C. Court of Appeal denied an application for a stay of proceedings.
WATCH: Extradition halted for pair accused of arranging honour killing
They will face charges of conspiracy to commit murder, however, no trial date has been set.
Jassi’s story dates back to 1994, when she travelled to India with her family and fell in love with Mithu. The pair stayed in touch, and wrote letters to one another in the years that followed.
She travelled to India in 1999 and the pair were secretly married.
That same year, her uncle began attempting to arrange her marriage to a wealthy businessman who was 60 years old.
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Jassi’s family discovered the secret marriage, and the following year she signed a notarized document saying she was coerced into the wedding.
However later in 2000, after telling RCMP officers her family was threatening her over the marriage, she flew to India where she told police that she had been forced to disavow the marriage.
On June 8, 2000, Mithu was allegedly warned by Jassi’s mother that she will make him disappear. The young couple was attacked by a group of armed men while riding a scooter later that day.
Jassi was kidnapped.
Her body was found with her throat slit the following day, and police alleged that her mother gave the execution order by phone from Canada.
Seven men, the alleged assassins in the brutal killing, were convicted in 2005.
-With files from Rumina Daya and the Canadian Press
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