Sippy Sidhu case: Accused moves court for papers

Ramkrishan Upadhyay

Chandigarh, August 14

Kalyani Singh, who is accused of murdering Sukhmanpreet Singh Sidhu — also known as Sippy Sidhu — has appealed to the CBI court to direct an ahlmad or some other official of the court to provide her with the documents related to the case in line with the direction of the high court.

The accused filed the application after the CBI failed to provide her with the documents as directed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court. In her plea, the accused said that she had approached the high court for the documents in accordance with Section 207 of the CrPC. The high court allowed the petition and stated, “The prosecution is directed to furnish a complete set of documents that were filed by the prosecution along with ‘untraced report, including statements of witnesses recorded under Section 161 of the CrPC. Since some of the documents are sealed in the court, the prosecution shall move the appropriate application before the trial court for unsealing the same so as to supply copies of such records immediately to the accused.” The court also observed that if any other record pertaining to the Chandigarh Police investigation is with the CBI, copies of the same should also be shared with the accused.

The accused noted that the high court, while making the observations, had relied on the Vinay Tyagi vs Irshad Ali judgement of the Supreme Court. She stated that the prosecution did not comply with the order but instead appealed to the court for more time. The high court agreed and allowed them six more weeks to ensure compliance with the order dating back to May of this year. However, they have still not complied with the court order.

The court has provided a copy of her application to the investigating agency. The court has directed the CBI to file its reply on August 17 and has provided the investigating agency with a copy of her application.