CBI arrests daughter of Himachal Pradesh HC's Acting Chief Justice in Sippy Sidhu murder case

The CBI on Wednesday arrested Kalyani Singh, daughter of Acting Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh High Court, in connection with the killing of national-level shooter Sukhmanpreet Singh alias Sippy Sidhu over six years ago in Chandigarh, officials said.

The CBI had called Kalyani Singh to its office for questioning after it recovered “documentary material” indicating her affair with Sidhu had turned sour, they said.

During the questioning, Kalyani Singh, daughter of Acting Chief Justice Sabina Singh, was allegedly “evasive” in her responses following which the CBI arrested her, the officials said.

Sidhu, grandson of a former Judge of Punjab and Haryana High Court and son of a noted lawyer, was pumped with at least four bullets from a “short gun firearm” on September 20, 2015, and his bullet-ridden body was found in Sector 27 Chandigarh next morning. The central agency had registered an FIR in the killing of Sidhu who was also a lawyer, on April 13, 2016, on the request of Chandigarh Administration, the CBI said in a statement.

Kalyani Singh was under the scanner of the agency for long as it had emerged during the probe that “a woman was accompanying Sidhu’s killer”.

The CBI had filed an “untraced report” in 2020 in the case mentioning that it did not have enough evidence to charge sheet her but sought permission to continue investigation because of “strong suspicion on her”.

The agency had also underlined a Maruti Zen car spotted at the place of incident at the relevant time, with the last four digits “1183”.

“During further investigation, 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-day police custody,” a CBI spokesperson said.