Himachal HC Acting Chief Justice’s daughter Kalyani Singh has been arrested by the CBI in the Sidhu murder case.
Chandigarh: Almost seven years on, the ripples of the saga of a relationship that had turned sour and led to a murder, continue to echo even today. A daughter of Acting Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh High Court, was in a relationship with a handsome hunk, national shooter and budding lawyer Sukhmanpreet Singh Sidhu, famously known as Sippy Sidhu in Chandigarh. Sidhu was the grandson of a former judge of Punjab and Haryana High Court and son of a noted lawyer. Sidhu, too, was in a relationship with the alleged murderer Kalyani Singh. As the story goes, Kalyani proposed to Sippy Sidhu for marriage, which Sippy and his family rejected, claiming that the girl was in a relation with some other people as well. Sippy was alleged to have leaked some photos of Kalyani and sent photos to Kalyani’s parents over which Kalyani and her family had to face major embarrassment. This whole set of events led to the murder of Sippy Sidhu on 20 September 2015.
Kalyani Singh is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Home Science, Post Graduate Government College for Girls, Sector-42, Chandigarh. Kalyani Singh’s mother, Justice Sabina, has also been a judge in the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Now she is the Acting Chief Justice in the Himachal Pradesh High Court posted. Power, pressure, and the press have played roles in this case. Sippy’s case was transferred to CBI in 2016. The central agency registered the FIR on 13 April 2016 at the request of the Chandigarh administration, after Sippy’s mother asked the Chandigarh administration to forward this case to the CBI. While speaking to The Sunday Guardian, Sippy’s brother Jasmanpreet Singh, alias Jippy Sidhu, said, “We wished to transfer the case to the CBI because of the fact that a senior police officer had expressed his inability to arrest the suspect citing being ‘under pressure’. The investigation in the murder case of my brother had been botched up in the initial stage. This was mentioned in the cancellation report filed by the CBI in December 2020. The CBI had recommended disciplinary action against certain police officers.” The family had met the then Union Law Minister and Home Minister as well for seeking the justice in this case. The mehendi artist whose phone was used by Kalyani Singh for calling Sippy Sidhu in Sector 27 Park had been identified. A woman resident whose house was situated near the park had claimed to have identified the woman with a pony tail who accompanied Sippy Sidhu to his murder. Even the laptop of Sippy Sidhu that contained some objectionable pictures of the accused Kalyani Singh was also found from Sippy’s house. Despite all the above, police had been unable to find accurate evidence to round up Kalyani Singh due to “high class pressures”.
R.P. Upadhyay, the 1991 batch AGMUT cadre IPS officer, was then Inspector General of Police (IGP), Chandigarh. Sukhchain Singh Gill, the 2003 batch Punjab cadre IPS officer, was then SSP, Chandigarh. However, the CBI 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. In December 2021, the CBI increased the reward to Rs 10 lakh. Finally, based on its findings, the agency summoned Singh for questioning and arrested her as she was allegedly evasive in her responses. The CBI had sought her remand for 10 days, but the court gave it four days.
In 2017, the CBI had put out an advertisement in newspapers stating that there is a 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 party to the offence”. In December 2020, the CBI had filed an untraced report in the court and mentioned that investigation may be allowed to open and continue as it has brought strong suspicion about the role of a woman to eliminate Sippy Sidhu.
Kalyani Singh has been arrested by the CBI in the Sippy Sidhu murder case. Siddu’s family members have made serious allegations against Kalyani Singh. Talking to The Sunday Guardian, Sidhu’s brother Jippy and mother Deepender Kaur said that they will meet the Chief Justice of India in this matter. He said that in Sippu’s murder case, “we have been taking Kalyani’s name from day one”.
Sippy’s brother Jippy said that not only Kalyani, her family is also involved in this murder. The family said that Kalyani had relations with other people. Sippy had sent some photos to Kalyani’s father. Since then, Kalyani was constantly after Sippy. From 18 September till the day of the murder i.e. 20 September 2015, Kalyani continued to meet Sippy. Sippy’s mother said that on 20 September, when Sippy went to Sector 27 from home, “he told me that he was going to meet Kalyani”. After the murder, Kalyani allegedly left the park. Sippy’s mother alleged that after Sippy’s murder, Kalyani had a party and cut the cake.