CBI arrests daughter of Himachal HC’S acting CJ
HT Correspondents
NEW DELHI/CHANDIGARH: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday arrested the daughter of Himachal Pradesh high court’s acting chief justice Sabina Singh in connection with the murder of national-level shooter and lawyer Sukhmanpreet Singh, alias Sippy Sidhu, in Chandigarh in 2015.
Kalyani Singh, 36, was arrested in Chandigarh on the basis of documentary evidence suggesting that she and Sippy were in a relationship that later turned sour, CBI officers familiar with the matter said.
Kalyani was arrested after she was found “evasive and deceptive”, along with evidence of her being present at the scene of the crime. Sippy (35), who ran a law firm – M/s Sippy Sidhu LLB – in Mohali, was shot dead by unidentified persons at a park in Sector 27 in Chandigarh on September 20, 2015.
Kalyani was arrested under Sections 302 (murder)/120(b) (criminal conspiracy), 201(disappearance of evidence of offence) of the Indian Penal Code and the Arms Act, the officer added. This is the first arrest in the murder case.the accused was later produced before a Chandigarh court and remanded to four days in police custody.
CBI said that the investigations so far conducted have suggested that Kalyani was in a close relationship with Sippy. “She wanted to marry him but her proposal was refused by Sippy’s family. Sippy leaked her objectionable photos to her parents and friends, which had caused embarrassment to Kalyani and her family,” said CBI while attributing motive to the murder. When contacted, Kalyani’s lawyer Sartej Narula said that her family was not going to make any statement at this juncture.cbi registered the first information report (FIR) in the killing of Sidhu on April 13, 2016, on the request of the Chandigarh administration.
“During investigation, the alleged involvement of accused (Kalyani Singh) came forth in the case. Accordingly, she was examined and arrested. The arrested accused was produced today (Wednesday) in the Court of Special Judicial Magistrate, Chandigarh and remanded to four days police custody,” a CBI spokesperson said.
During the court proceedings,
Kalyani’s lawyers, termed the arrest as “abuse of law” by saying “It is six-year-old case and CBI had even filed untraced report. She (Kalyani) had earlier joined investigations but nothing incriminating was found against her.” CBI believes that a woman accompanied the lawyer’s killer at the time of the murder. After taking over the probe in 2016, the agency, in an advertisement in a newspaper, announced a reward of ₹5 lakh for information related to the case.
After it failed to gather any clues, the agency in December 2020 filed an “untraced report” in CBI court, Chandigarh.
In December 2021, the reward amount was increased to ₹10 lakh for information on suspects. CBI said that the involvement of Kalyani came forth as they probed the case further.
“During her earlier examination she was evasive in answering the relevant questions and was also found deceptive in the polygraph test on the questions/issues related to the murder,” said CBI, concluding that accused Kalyani in conspiracy with unknown assailant murdered Sippy. To be sure, polygraph tests are inadmissable in court.