Sippy Sidhu murder: Received obscene text messages from someone posing as Kalyani, claims witness

In the resumed hearing of the Sippy Sidhu murder case before the CBI court on Tuesday, a prosecution witness testified that he had received obscene messages from someone likely impersonating the prime accused, Kalyani Singh, uptill a month before the murder in September 2015 .

The witness, Sachin Bhatia, deposed that he had come in contact with accused Kalyani Singh through his wife, Priyanka Dhawan, in 2006, when both women were students at Home Science College, Sector 10, Chandigarh.

The court allowed Kalyani’s plea to have Bhatia’s statement recorded as in-camera proceedings (conducted in private, excluding the public and media). This was the first hearing in the sensational murder trial in three months since the last one on January 21. Kalyani and Sippy’s brother Jasmanpreet Singh Sidhu were in attendance.

“At that time, my wife did not have a mobile phone, so she used the accused’s phone to stay in touch with me. Through this arrangement, I also interacted with Kalyani and exchanged messages with her up to 2012,” Bhatia narrated in the court.

He stated that he had no further contact with the accused after 2012. However, in April 2015, he received a WhatsApp message from an unknown number. The sender identified themselves only as “K”. When Bhatia asked for clarification, the sender sent him obscene photographs of the accused.

He further stated, “I chatted with the sender to try and identify them, but they refused to talk over the phone. They claimed to be Kalyani and said her parents had given her a new number. When I asked about her marriage plans with Sippy Sidhu (since deceased), the sender said his parents were against the match due to inter-caste issues. I received such messages until July 2015, after which I blocked the number due to suspicion.”

Bhatia added that in August 2015, he again received obscene photos of the accused via WhatsApp, this time from a UK number beginning with +44. He again tried to verify the sender’s identity, but the person remained reluctant to speak and claimed her parents were searching for a suitable match for her.

He concluded by stating, “On September 21, 2015, I learned about Sippy Sidhu’s death through my wife, who read about it in the newspaper. Despite efforts, I couldn’t identify the person who sent those messages.”

Sukhmanpreet Singh, better known as Sippy Sidhu, was shot dead at a park in Sector 27 on September 20, 2015. His family has accused Kalyani of killing him as they had turned down her marriage proposal.

Sippy was the grandson of late justice SS Sidhu, a former Punjab and Haryana high court judge, and Kalyani is the daughter of retired Himachal Pradesh high court judge justice Sabina. Kalyani was arrested in June 2022 and later charged with murder.

On May 5 last year, nine years after the murder, the CBI court had ordered day-to-day hearing of the trial while framing charges against Kalyani, who has been out on bail since September 2022.

Arrest warrants against absent witness

After summons sent to another prosecution witness V Vishwanathan for April 21 were received back duly served and he failed to appear, the CBI court issued arrest warrants, bailable against a surety bond of ₹15,000, for May 31.