Sippy murder case: CBI told to submit statements of witnesses in sealed cover

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 27

Sukhdev Singh, Special Judicial Magistrate, CBI, Chandigarh, has directed the CBI to submit the statements of the witnesses recorded under Section 161 of the CrPC (statements recorded before investigating officer) during the investigation of the murder case of Sukhmanpreet Singh Sidhu, alias Sippy Sidhu, and documents mentioned in the final report dated December 7, 2020, in a sealed cover.

The court has issued the direction while disposing of an application moved by accused Kalyani Singh for compliance of Section 173 (5) of the CrPC and consequent directions to the CBI to place on record before the court all documents and records as well as statements of the witnesses recorded under Section 161, CrPC, relied upon in the final report under Section 173 of the CrPC.

The investigating agency (CBI) has opposed the application mainly on the ground that the accused cannot seek compliance of provision under Section 173 (5) of the CrPC for placing on record statement of the witnesses and documents relied upon in the final report as she was not nominated as an accused at that time.

There is also a specific objection raised by public prosecutor Narender Singh during the course of arguments that if statements of the witnesses were made part of the record, then this exercise would hamper further investigation and the possibility of influencing the witnesses cannot be ruled out.

After hearing the arguments, the court said untraced report, including statement of the witnesses recorded under Section 161 of the CrPC and relied upon documents, had already been supplied to the aggrieved party. So, these documents had come in public domain. The court had to strike a balance between the rights of the complainant and the accused for fair trial and transparency. The main objective of the CrPC is to conduct a fair trial of accused in an unbiased manner.

The court said in order to remove the apprehension of prejudice to accused Kalyani and in view of apprehension of prosecution, the investigating agency is directed to file same statements of the witnesses recorded under Section 161 of the CrPC and documents as mentioned in the final report under Section 173 of the CrPC dated December 7, 2020, in a sealed cover in the court, along with a separate affidavit of the investigating officer that he had submitted the statements and documents as mentioned in the final report in the sealed cover.

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