On the morning of June 15, when Kalyani Singh, 36, the daughter of then Himachal Pradesh High Court Acting Chief Justice, Sabina, was summoned for questioning in connection with the 2015 sensational murder of national shooter and advocate Sukhmanpreet Singh Sidhu aka Sippy Sidhu at CBI zonal headquarters, Sector 30, not many eyebrows were raised.

Kalyani, after all, had been summoned multiple times for questioning in the case in the past as well, but investigators had made precious little progress from it. On June 15, Kalyani, an assistant professor in the home science department of the Post Graduate Government College For Girls, Sector 42, went inside the CBI headquarters as she had done numerous times earlier. Only this time, it was different.

A few hours after her entry into the CBI headquarters, the bureau put out a statement that Kalyani had been arrested. triggering a storm. The arrest soon became the talking point of all social circles of Chandigarh, effortlessly making the headlines for the next few days.

Before June 15, Kalyani Singh, the eldest daughter of her parents, had appeared before investigators over a half-a-dozen times. She was allowed to go free after every session of questioning.

After her arrest, she remained in CBI custody for at least 7 days and was later sent to judicial custody in Model Burail jail. Her regular bail application was dismissed on July 13 on the ground that Kalyani could influence witnesses if granted bail.

Sukhmanpreet Singh Sidhu or Sippy Sidhu, a national-level shooter, who gave up his job as assistant sub-inspector (ASI) in Punjab Police for pursuing a career in law, had been found dead with at least four bullet wounds at a public park in Sector 27 on September 20, 2015. Sippy Sidhu, whose grandfather was a judge at Punjab and Haryana High Court, had his own law firm, M/s Sippy Sidhu Law. Sippy Sidhu had also won the team gold, along with Olympic gold medalist Abhinav Bindra, in the Punjab National Games in 2001.

“Since Day One we knew that it was Kalyani who was behind the killing of Sukhmanpreet Singh Sidhu. Kalyani Singh’s mother Sabina has served at the Punjab and Haryana High Court and was the Acting Chief Justice of Himachal High Court at the time of her arrest. Her bail application has been dismissed by a lower court. It is very likely that she approaches the High Court next. We urge the authorities and the Union Law Ministry to transfer the trial of the case outside the jurisdiction of Punjab and Haryana,” Jasmanpreet Singh Sidhu, who is also known as Jippy Sidhu, the younger brother of Sippy, told The Indian Express.

The family of Sippy Sidhu has held numerous candlelight marches, organized a silent protest near Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s residence in Delhi, and subsequently met the then Union Home Minister, Rajnath Singh, seeking his intervention in the case. A Facebook page ‘Justice for Sippy Sidhu’ has also been created which is periodically updated by Jippy Sidhu.

In January 2016, the Chandigarh Administration had referred the case to the CBI. After Justice Sabina was transferred from the Punjab and Haryana High Court to the Rajasthan High Court on April 7, 2016, the agency’s Special Crime Branch re-registered an FIR in the case on April 13, 2016, and initiated an investigation.

Jasmanpreet Singh Sidhu says, “Before leaving the house on September 20, Sippy had told my mother, Deepinder Kaur Sidhu, that he is going to meet Kalyani Singh. Chandigarh Police, the first investigation agency, had succumbed to pressure. We knew that the police would not be capable of taking any action against the relative of a sitting judge/justice. We carried out a tireless campaign demanding the probe to be handed over to CBI for at least six months. Finally, the probe was handed over to the CBI and a fresh FIR was lodged. Kalyani’s arrest is the first step towards getting justice for the killing of my brother.”

The arrest of Kalyani, who is also a law graduate, the CBI says, was based on a lengthy five-year-long investigation which purportedly established her presence at the scene of the crime when Sippy was shot dead, her identification by a person whose phone Kalyani used to reportedly make calls to Sippy urging him to meet at a park in Sector 27 two days before the murder and on the basis of her leaked photos to her parents, relatives allegedly by Sippy Sidhu, who was once in a relationship with her.

Kalyani’s pictures were found stored in a laptop and one iPhone of Sippy Sidhu. The gadgets were found at his house in 3B2 in Mohali. Some pictures were also found in Sippy Sidhu’s other phone, an iPhone 5S, which was found lying near his dead body in the Sector 27 park. The pictures, along with other contents like WhatsApp chats, emails, etc were retrieved from the iPhone 5S by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), US, in November, 2018.

In November 2014, Parminder Singh, the father of Kalyani, had put his turban on the feet of Sippy Sidhu at his house in 3B2 Mohali in the presence of members of both families requesting him not to leak the photos of his daughter. On the same day, a ‘secret discussion’ was held between Sippy Sidhu and the parents of Kalyani Singh at the former’s house.

“Both the families had known each other for a long time. Sippy’s father, Inder Preet Singh Sidhu, and Kalyani’s father, Parminder Singh, practiced law together. The duo had once been appointed as Assistant Advocate Generals in the office of the Punjab Advocate General. Even Sippy’s grandfather, SS Sidhu, was a judge at Punjab and Haryana High Court. The relationship between the families was well known in the legal circle of Chandigarh. Both the families were considered very close to each other. The families had deep political connections too,” a lawyer practicing at the Punjab and Haryana High Court said.

Producing Kalyani in court on the day of her arrest, June 15, the CBI had submitted, “Investigation revealed that Kalyani Singh was in a relationship with deceased Sukhmanpreet Singh Sidhu aka Sippy Sidhu. She wanted to marry him but her proposal was refused by Sippy Sidhu as well as his parents. On the other hand, Sippy Sidhu leaked her objectionable photographs to her parents and friends. This act of Sippy Sidhu caused embarrassment to Kalyani Singh and her family. Kalyani contacted Sippy Sidhu on September 18 through the mobile phones of unknown people and asked Sippy to meet her in the park of Sector 27. Consequently, Sippy Sidhu met her at the said park. There is evidence confirming the presence of Kalyani Singh with deceased Sippy Sidhu at the Sector 27 park on the evening of September 20.”

The CBI had further submitted in court, “Kalyani and an unknown assailant killed Sippy Sidhu with a .12 bore shotgun. An eye witness had seen accused Kalyani Singh and the unknown assailant killing Sippy Sidhu. After killing, they (Kalyani, unknown assailant) carried away the .12 bore shotgun and empty cartridges.” The documents submitted by the CBI are in possession of The Indian Express.

Meanwhile, Kalyani Singh’s alibi claimed that she, along with her family members, was attending a birthday party at the house of one of her relatives in Sector 10 when Sippy Sidhu was murdered, a claim the CBI rubbished. Kalyani’s polygraph test revealed her answers surrounding her absence from Sector 10 party, presence at Sector 27, and the killing of Sippy Sidhu was deceptive. The polygraph of her father, Parminder Singh was found to be truthful. Both father and daughter had undergone a polygraph test at CFSL, New Delhi, in January 2018.

Sources said, “Kalyani was once disturbed by the closeness of Sippy Sidhu with his girlfriend number-1, the only daughter of an industrialist residing in Mohali. Investigation revealed that Sippy Sidhu wanted to marry that girl. Kalyani had once sent a displeased text message to her urging her to stay away from Sippy Sidhu.”

In 2017, the CBI had put out an advertisement in newspapers stating that thy had reasons to believe that a woman was accompanying Sippy’s killer at the time of the murder. The said woman, through the advertisement, was given this opportunity to come forward and contact the Bureau with her side of the story. In December 2020, the CBI filed an untraceable report in court and 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. Evidence against Kalyani Singh

The testimony of a mehndi applier, Harishanker Gupta, whose cell phone was used for calling Sippy Sidhu on September 18 two days before the killing. Gupta was shown a computerised sketch of a woman and identified it to be that of Kalyani, who had borrowed his cell phone to make two calls on September 18. Later, the woman deleted the number.

nThe testimony of a woman resident of Sector 27 who claimed that she witnessed Kalyani at the scene of the crime on September 20, 2015.

nThe polygraph test of Kalyani Singh, that was found to be evasive on questions of her absence from the birthday party during the particular time when Sippy Sidhu got killed, and her presence at Sector 27.

nStatement of Sippy Sidhu’s mother, Deepinder Kaur Sidhu, who reported that her son had left the house after telling her that he is going to meet Kalyani Singh. nEvidence suggesting Sippy Sidhu had sent objectionable pictures of Kalyani Singh to her parents and other family members. ‘No evidence against Kalyani’

“There is not an iota of evidence against Kalyani Singh. Before June 15, the CBI was of the opinion that she was involved in getting him killed and now the same agency is claiming that she killed him along with an assailant, who fired two bullets and two bullets were fired by her,” said Advocate Sartej Singh Narula.

Prodded about the CBI’s claims that the motive behind the killing was the leaking of objectionable pictures, Narula said that Sippy Sidhu was in the possession of objectionable pictures of many women. He said that it is a matter on record that he had six girlfriends. He stated that Kalyani and Sippy were in touch with each other when the latter had gone to London one month before his killing. “He had told Kalyani about the suspected movements of unknown people outside his house in August, 2015, and Kalyani had advised him to be careful and approach the DGP, Punjab Police. Sippy wanted to marry Kalyani, and it is not the other way round,” said Narula.

Advocate Narula, said that CBI has not been able to identify the assailant or recover the weapon which was used in the crime. He said Kalyani Singh had joined the CBI investigation more than a dozen times before her arrest. Even the CBI had once filed an untraced report in this case. “After five years, now the CBI is claiming that a Mehandi artist, whose cell phone was purportedly used by Kalyani to call Sippy Sidhu two days before his murder, had identified a sketch made by the bureau as that of my client. This is absurd. There is not a single piece of evidence on record that Kalyani Singh was in touch with Sippy Sidhu on September 20, the day of the crime. A 12bore gun of one Simrandeep Singh Sandhu was seized but it was not used in the crime,” Narula said.

Other angles explored by CBI

Besides examining the soured relationship between Kalyani Singh and Sippy Sidhu, the CBI had also probed angles related to property matters, Sippy’s affairs with other girls, and activities of Paralympic Committees. The property matter was between M/s Ozone Company and M/s Omaxe India. The first had received Rs 7 crore from the latter to facilitate the purchase land from farmers in Amritsar and release the same from acquisition by Improvement Trust, Amritsar. Sippy came in contact with directors of M/s Ozone and settled their matter with M/s Omaxe at his residence. During investigations, no involvement of motive of any person was found that may have caused enmity and murder of Sippy Sidhu. CBI also did not find anything related to Sippy’s affairs with anyone else in connection with his murder. The bureau also examined the affairs of the Paralympic Committee and found no connection with the murder. Sippy Sidhu was joint secretary of the Paralympic Committee of India and the secretary general of the Paralympic Committee of Punjab.

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Saurabh ParasharSaurabh Parashar is Special Correspondent based in Chandigarh... read more