Sippy Murder Case: Retd judge asked me to purchase SIM card on my name: Witness
Prosecution conducted the examination-in-chief of former special secretary of the retired woman judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court today during trial of the nine-year-old murder case of advocate Sukhmanpreet Singh Sidhu, aka Sippy Sidhu.
While supporting the statement given before the CBI under Section 161 of CrPC, the former special secretary told the CBI court that the retired judge, who was mother of Kalyani Singh, the accused in the murder case, had asked her in 2014 to purchase a BSNL SIM and give it to her.
The witness said she worked as special secretary to retired judge from 2008 till her transfer to Rajasthan in 2016. She said, “While I was working with the retired judge she asked me to purchase a BSNL SIM on my name and give it to her.”
The special secretary said, “I filled an application form for the new BSNL mobile connection and got the SIM card issued on my name and handed it over to the judge.”
The special secretary said she had purchased the SIM for judge’s daughter, who was present in the court. The special secretary identified the documents and the signature on them as well her photographs pasted on the application form in the CBI court.
The prosecution showed the record of calls made through the SIM used in the mobile phone from August 1, 2015, to September 20, 2015, to the witness in the court.
After seeing the record, the witness (special secretary) said neither she made these calls nor she sent any messages from the particular SIM. The witness said she never got the SIM back. The witness said she voluntarily transferred the SIM in the name of the accused in 2022.
On the other hand Sartej Singh Narula, counsel of accused Kalyani Singh, said the witness only said that she purchased SIM for Kalyani. He said as Kalyani was still using the SIM there was no incriminating evidence her. He said, “That’s why we did not cross examine the witness.”
Thirty-five-year-old national-level shooter Sippy Sidhu, an advocate by profession, was killed on September 20, 2015, at a Sector 27 park in Chandigarh. The case was transferred to the CBI in 2016. After six years of investigation, the CBI failed to find culprits in the case and filed an untraced report in December 2020.
However, the court did not accept the untraced report and asked the CBI to further investigate the case. After reinvestigation, the CBI arrested Kalyani Singh on June 15, 2022, on the allegation that she murdered Sippy Sidhu. The court has already framed charges against the accused for the offences punishable under Sections under 302, 120 B and 201 of the IPC and Sections 25, 27 and 54 of the Arms Act.
