Sippy murder case: Kalyani Singh asks CBI to provide Sidhu's emails, chats seized during probe

Ramkrishan Upadhyay

Chandigarh, December 12

Kalyani Singh has asked the court to issue directions to the CBI to provide complete chats and emails of Sukhmanpreet Singh Sidhu, alias Sippy Sidhu, seized during the investigation from his laptops, mobile and other sources.

Sartej Singh Narula and Harish Mehla, counsels for Kalyani, while arguing before the CBI court on an application filed under Section 207 of the CrPC for providing all documents relied upon by the CBI in the chargesheet, alleged that the CBI selectively used part of emails to prove its case against the accused.

While quoting the judgments of the Apex Court, Narula said it was mandatory for the investigating agency to provide all information to the accused procured during the investigation.

The CBI arrested the accused Kalyani Singh in the case in June this year claiming that she killed 35-year-old national-level shooter and advocate Sippy Sidhu for releasing her objectionable photographs to others. Sippy was found murdered in a park of Sector 27, Chandigarh, on September 20, 2016.

Narula sought a copy of emails exchanged between Sippy and Kalyani from October 2014 to September 2015. Narula claimed that in fact it was Sippy who wanted to marry Kalyani and also proposed her. Narula said besides emails, no details were provided as to how the computerised sketch of the accused was prepared. Narula said this information was crucial to defend the accused as the sketch could be made from the photograph procured from any source, including Facebook.

Among other things, Narula also sought complete data provided by the FBI extracted from the iPhone of the deceased. He also demanded details of the chat the deceased had with another phone number from 2015 to 2016.

On the other hand, the public prosecutor denied allegations and said whatever information was relied upon by the investigating agency in the chargesheet had already been provided to the accused. He said it was the discretion of the investigating officer to use the information as he deemed fit in the chargesheet.

The public prosecutor also refused to provide data that contains personal details of Sippy Sidhu to Kalyani. He said demanding such personal information was infringement on the personal liberty of the victim as given by Article 21 of the Constitution. He alleged that the defence was raising such demand to delay the trial in the case. He said that if the defence sought any such information, these could be demanded at the stage of trial. Merit of case could not be argued at such a stage.

After hearing the arguments, the court adjourned the hearing for December 16.