Himachal HC judge's daughter gets bail in murder case

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Tuesday allowed regular bail plea of Kalyani Singh, the daughter of Himachal Pradesh high court judge justice Sabina, in the murder case of national-level shooter and lawyer Sukhmanpreet Singh, popularly known as Sippy Sidhu, in 2015.

The order was pronounced in the open court by Justice Sureshwar Thakur, who had reserved the judgment on September 3.

Kalyani had contended before the court that the CBI special judge, who rejected her bail plea, failed to appreciate that the investigating agency had not been able to bring up or point out at any new evidence that would indict her "beyond whatever evidence was available with them at the time of filing report on December 7, 2020".

Kalyani, a lecturer with a local government college, had approached the high court for bail on July 27 after her plea was dismissed by a trial court. She was arrested on June 15 after the CBI found her responses to be "evasive and deceptive".

Sippy Sidhu, the grandson of former Punjab and Haryana High Court Judge Justice S.S. Sidhu, was shot dead on September 20, 2015. His bullet-ridden body was found in a park in Sector 27 here.

The CBI during the investigation had found documentary evidence suggesting that Kalyani and the deceased were in a romantic relationship that had turned sour.