CHANDIGARH: As accused Kalyani Singh was uncooperative and non-responsive during the four-day police custody, she needs to be interrogated in the presence of a forensic psychologist to get meaningful answers to the important facts. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said this in court on Sunday during the hearing for extending custody of Kalyani, daughter of Himachal HC’s acting Chief Justice, after the completion of her remand. The court extended her police remand for two more days.
Kalyani was arrested on June 15 for the murder of Sukhmanpreet Singh, alias Sippy Sidhu, a national-level shooter and advocate. The CBI has also apprehended one more person known to the accused and has been interrogating him. The bureau had demanded a seven-day remand to confront the accused with facts as well as places that figured during the commission of the crime. The CBI would take her to the office of the deceased, PU, her college and reconstruct the crime scene.
The CBI also said in court that their investigation found that one assailant was covering his face to hide his identity and the car used by the accused had been traced and was being seized. Both Kalyani and an assailant ran away in two different cars from the spot. They took away the gun as well as the empty cartridges. To conclude the investigation, the recovery of weapons and empty cartridges was very essential, the CBI added.
Accused Kalyani, in conspiracy with some unknown persons, had allegedly called Sippy to Sector 27 and murdered him along with an unknown assailant using a 12-bore shotgun on September 20, 2015, it said. The CBI has also claimed that despite clear evidence, the accused was not cooperating and denying crucial facts. The bureau said she was given an opportunity to opt for narco analysis, but she refused.
On the other hand, the defence lawyer opposed the police custody, saying when the CBI failed to get any concrete details in four days, then why was it demanding more time. Polygraph test of Kalyani had also been done by CBI, the defence said. The defence lawyer also said CBI sleuths were pressurising Kalyani to accept her involvement in the murder.
Coming out of the court, victim Sippy’s mother Deepinder Kaur said they reached there alone because they were standing with truth while the accused party has a team of around 50 lawyers. She said, “Their lawyer accused CBI officials of favouring the victim's family. The CBI will get nothing by favouring us, because I am neither a judge nor a minister who can give benefits to their officials.”
As per the CBI’s investigation, Kalyani was in a close relationship with Sippy and wanted to marry him. However, victim’s family had turned down her marriage proposal. As Sippy had also leaked her objectionable pictures to her parents and friends, she faced embarrassment. Kalyani allegedly contacted Sippy on his mobile on the evening of September 18, 2015, through someone else’s phones and asked him to meet her in a Sector 27 park. CBI’s investigation said he left his residence to meet the accused on the evening of September 20, 2015, and there was evidence that Kalyani was present with Sippy in the park on that day.
The defence lawyer said in the court, “Sippy’s mother Deepinder Kaur and brother threatened Kalyani that they would circulate her obscene pictures and videos available with them and that it will make her mother cry more than they had cried at the death of Sippy. No action was taken by CBI though this was said in its presence.”
“Despite the court’s order, no questioning was done in the presence of the defence lawyer. There is no headway in the case and the CBI has only been revisiting the evidence collected from April 2016, when the case was transferred to it,” said the defence lawyer in the court.
