CCTV footage preserved only for limited time: CBI’s response to Kalyani’s contempt of court allegations

Kalyani Singh, the prime accused in the 2015 Sippy Sidhu murder, has accused CBI of contempt of court for not preserving videography/audiography of her remand in June 2022

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday informed a CBI court that its office in Chandigarh was equipped to store CCTV camera footage only for a limited time.

CBI also added that the allegations of physical and mental torture during Kalyani’s police remand were false and baseless. (HT File Photo)

The agency was responding to the contempt of court allegations by Kalyani Singh, the prime accused in the 2015 Sippy Sidhu murder.

On January 12, Kalyani had alleged that the CBI officials did not preserve videography/audiography of her remand between June 15 and 20, 2022, a total derogation and intentional violation of the orders passed by the Supreme Court.

Responding to the allegations, CBI said it was not possible for it to preserve footage of her remand when she filed an application for it on November 21, 2022, as no CCTV footage prior to August 13, 2022, was available in the recording system on that date.

Further, it was wrong on the part of the accused to suggest that the CCTV footage concerning her period of custody had been wilfully deleted, considering that all recordings prior to August 13 were overwritten when the footage was sought.

The overwriting was due to the capacity of the system and to upgrade the system, correspondences had been made by CBI Chandigarh with the administration division of the CBI Head Office, the court was informed.

CBI also added that the allegations of physical and mental torture during her police remand were false and baseless. They had already submitted a reply on this on November 30, 2022, and added that the accused was repeatedly raising this issue with the motive to divert the attention of the trial court and to delay court proceedings against her.

It was shared that the accused was medically examined on regular intervals and her family members/counsel were allowed to meet her during her police custody. She was produced in court at the due time and at that time, she had not raised any such issue, CBI said, praying for dismissal of the application.

The court adjourned the case to January 23 for further arguments on the contempt of court application. Arguments on application for merging the murder case with the protest petition filed by the kin of Sippy Sidhu against the Chandigarh Police will also be heard.