The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday arrested Kalyani Singh, the daughter of Himachal Pradesh High Court’s Acting Chief Justice Sabina, in connection with the murder of national-level shooter Sukhmanpreet Singh Sidhu.
Kalyani is the first person to have been arrested in the case. Singh, who was popularly known as Sippy Sidhu, was shot dead in Sector 27 of Chandigarh in September 2015.
The 35-year-old rifle shooter, who was also a corporate lawyer, used to live in Punjab’s Mohali and was grandson of former Punjab and Haryana High Court judge Justice SS Sidhu. Sippy had won the team gold along with Abhinav Bindra in the Punjab National Games in 2001. He had been on the shooting circuit for more than fifteen years and won medals regularly at various shooting competitions. He was a great promoter of sports and was Joint Secretary of the Paralympic Committee of India. He was also the founder and secretary general of the Paralympic Committee of Punjab.
In April 2016, the case was transferred to the CBI at the request of Chandigarh Administrator Kaptan Singh Solanki, who questioned the investigating officer and other police personnel. It should be noted that Sidhu’s family has alleged that the Chandigarh Police shielded Kalyani.
“There is 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 a party to the offence,” the CBI had said.
Later, the CBI in its probe found that Sidhu and Singh were in a relationship. Kalyani wanted to marry Sidhu, but the latter’s parents had refused the proposal.
The probe agency said Sidhu leaked “certain objectionable photographs” of Kalyani, causing an embarrassment to her. In September 2015, she asked Sidhu to meet her at a park in Chandigarh, where she shot the shooter with help of another attacker, the CBI alleged.
