Chandigarh, Feb1 (IANS): The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) British Columbia on Thursday presented appreciation certificates to the Punjab Police officers for cracking the murder case of Canadian citizen Jaswinder Kaur Sidhu.

The certificates were presented to Inspector General (IG) headquarters Jatinder Singh Aulakh, the then Sangrur district police chief Swaran Singh at the Punjab Police headquarters in the presence of Punjab director general of police (DGP) Suresh Arora.

RCMP Inspector Dave Chauhen, part of this investigation, specially came from Surrey, Canada to present the certificates to both the officers.

Jassi aka Jaswinder Sidhu was murdered in Punjab in June 2000 during a visit to India, allegedly at the behest of her relatives who were upset that she got married to a boy from a lower caste.

The murder case became a much talked-about honour killing case in Canada's strong Indian community.

Two prime accused in the murder case, Jassi's mother Malkit Kaur Sidhu and maternal uncle Surjit Singh Badesha, were last week extradited from Canada and are being brought to Punjab.

The extradition has taken place over 18 years and six months after the murder of the victim.

"The professionalism and utmost dedication demonstrated on this investigation was instrumental in ensuring those responsible were brought to justice," the DGP said.

While presenting the certificate, the Canadian police lauded the exemplary work of police officers and expressed appreciation for their outstanding performance and efforts on the homicide investigation of the Canadian citizen, a Punjab Police spokesman said.