The Central Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday arrested a woman in connection with the murder of national-level shooter and lawyer Sukhmanpreet Singh aka Sippy Sidhu in Chandigarh over six years ago.
The accused, Kalyani Singh, is the daughter of the Acting Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court, said an agency official, adding that the case appeared to be that of a relationship that had gone sour.
Sidhu had started his own law firm in the name of Sippy Sidhu LLB in Punjab’s Mohali. On the night of September 20, 2015, he was gunned down by unknown persons.
After Sidhu’s killing, his family had alleged the role of the woman suspect. Subsequently, the local police questioned her. The victim’s relatives held protests seeking justice. Subsequently, on a reference from the Chandigarh administration, the CBI re-registered the case on April 13, 2016.
Reward announced
In September 2016, the agency announced a reward of ₹5 lakh for clues leading to the identity of those involved in the murder. The amount was increased to ₹10 lakh in December 2021. Earlier, in December 2020, the CBI had submitted an “untraced report” in a court, with a plea that it would like to continue the probe giving a strong suspicion about the woman suspect’s role.
Based on its findings, the agency finally summoned Ms. Singh for questioning and arrested her as she was allegedly evasive in her responses. “The arrested accused was produced on Wednesday in the court of Special Judicial Magistrate, Chandigarh, and remanded in four-day police custody,” said a CBI statement.
