CBI arrests Himachal Pradesh High Court judge's daughter in Sippy Sidhu murder case

Amit Sharma

Chandigarh, June 15

Almost seven years after national-level shooter and advocate Sukhmanpreet Singh Sidhu, aka Sippy Sidhu, was shot dead at a park in Sector 27, Chandigarh, CBI officials on Wednesday arrested Kalyani Singh, daughter of Himachal Pradesh High Court judge Justice Sabina. Justice Sabina is also the acting Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh High Court.

Sippy was shot dead on September 20, 2015. A .12 bore gun was used in the crime and four bullets were fired from it. The UT Police had registered a case of murder at the Sector 26 police station.

In January 2016, the case was transferred to the CBI, after which the investigating agency registered a murder case and began a probe.

The alleged role of judge’s daughter in the murder cropped up during the CBI investigation. However, they wanted to gather more clues, following which, around seven months later, in September 2016, CBI sleuths announced a reward of Rs 5 lakh for anybody providing a clue that could help crack the case.

The CBI also gave a newspaper advertisement stating that “there is reason to believe that a woman was accompanying Sippy’s killer at the time of the murder. The said woman is also being given this opportunity to come forward and contact us if she is innocent. Otherwise it shall be presumed that she was a party to the offence”.

In December 2021, the CBI raised the reward money to Rs 10 lakh, stating that members of the public are requested to come forward, if they have any credible information regarding the murder or any relevant information. However, the investigating agency failed to make headway in the case.

In 2020, the CBI had also filed an “untraced report” in the court and had mentioned that investigation may be allowed to open and continue as it has brought strong suspicion qua the role of a woman to eliminate Sippy Sidhu.

CBI gets 4-day remand of Kalyani Singh

Meanwhile, Kalyani Singh was on Wednesday produced before CBI’s Special Judicial Magistrate Sukhdev Singh who remanded her in four-day CBI custody.

During the last hearing of the case, the CBI had sought one-month time for filing a status report regarding further investigation into the Sippy murder case.