How a family struggled before CBI arrested judge's daughter in 7 yr old murder case

Chandigarh (Punjab): In September 2015, the murder of a national-level shooter and a corporate lawyer Sukhmanpreet Singh alias Sippy Sidhu in Chandigarh’s posh 27 sector park shocked the city. It got further attention when the deceased’s family repeatedly accused the daughter of the then Punjab and Haryana High Court judge, Justice Sabina, of Sidhu’s murder.

A month after the murder, the victim’s family even submitted a representation to the Chief Justice’s office in Punjab and Haryana High Court, accusing the said judge, of “interfering in the investigation.”

Under pressure from the family, Chandigarh Police too had questioned the judge's daughter but did not make any arrest. The case remained unsolved even as the investigation was transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

In 2020, CBI even filed a final report in this case in a major setback to the relentless efforts of the victim's family. On every death anniversary of Sidhu, they held candle marches and did everything in their capacity to awaken the system.

The family on Wednesday, June 15, was finally relieved hours after CBI arrested Kalyani Singh, daughter of the said Justice, who last month was appointed as acting chief justice in Himachal Pradesh High Court.

It was a love affair that ended in murder, hinted CBI in its remand paper.

The deceased’s mother Deepinder Kaur Sidhu told the Newsdrum that it was an open and shut case from day one. There was enough evidence to nail Kalyani's role.

"But it was pressure from the accused’s family, which kept her saved since then. Few police officers even told me in private that the family should forget about getting any justice, Kaur alleged.

She said, “I was now happy that our patience finally paid off after CBI put her behind bars. The truth will now come out who was with her on the day my son was brutally murdered,” she said.

CBI claimed enough evidence to prosecute her  

While it is not clear what took CBI several years to crack the case, it claimed in the remand paper to have enough evidence to prosecute her role in Sidhu’s murder.

As the agency got her remand for four days from a special CBI judicial magistrate court in Chandigarh, the agency told the court that during her remand period, she would be made to identify the firearms used to kill Sidhu and also the assailant present with her.

Besides, CBI would make effort to recover the murder weapon and vehicle used in the crime besides further underneath the overall conspiracy and the role of other unknown assailants.

According to the CBI, there is “evidence” confirming the presence of the accused with Sippy Sidhu in the sector 27 park on the night of September 20, 2015, when the murder took place. The agency further claimed that one unknown assailant and accused Kalyani Singh killed Sidhu by using the firearm. Thereafter, both of them were seen running from the spot. According to CBI, during her earlier examination, she was evasive in answering the relevant questions and was also found deceptive in the polygraph test on the question related to Sidhu’s murder.

What led to murder

It was a love affair that ended in murder, hinted CBI in its remand paper. According to the agency, the accused was in a close relationship with the deceased.

She wanted to marry him but her proposal was refused by the parents of the deceased’s family. On the other side, Sidhu released her objectionable pictures to family and friends. The act of Sidhu, as per CBI, caused embarrassment to Kalyani and her family and then prompted her to take extreme steps.