‘Claims of torture unbelievable’: Court turns down Kalyani’s pleas

The court of special judicial magistrate Sukhdev Singh observed that after getting bail, the applicant took almost two months to file the application

Filing an application alleging verbal and physical abuse after a gap of almost two months makes the applicant’s story unbelievable, observed a CBI court while dismissing three pleas filed by Kalyani Singh, the prime accused in the 2015 Sippy Sidhu murder.

Kalyani Singh is the prime accused in the 2015 Sippy Sidhu murder. (HT File Photo)

In the pleas, Kalyani through her counsel had alleged custodial torture, and contempt of court by CBI for not preserving the audiography and videography of her remand between June 15 and 20, 2022; and had demanded the findings of the probe conducted by the Chandigarh Police before the case was transferred to CBI.

While dismissing the pleas on Monday, the court of special judicial magistrate Sukhdev Singh observed that the applicant was bailed out on September 13, 2022, as per the order of the Punjab and Haryana high court, while the application alleging intimidation, intemperate psychological and verbal abuse during her remand was filed on November 21.

The court observed that after getting bail, the applicant took almost two months to file the application. It said she was represented by her counsel during police and judicial custody, and if there was any actual incident of torture, she would have brought it to the notice of her counsel or even the court when she was produced before court at regular intervals.

Taking up the application seeking contempt proceedings against CBI officials for not preserving CCTV footage of her remand, the court observed that the cameras in the CBI office did not have the capacity to preserve recordings for a long period.

“Overwritten (sic) of CCTV footage due to low-capacity recording system does not suggest contempt of the Supreme Court in any manner. Except self-serving statement of the accused, there is nothing on record which is suggestive of the fact that CBI intentionally deleted the CCTV footage of the requisite period,” the court said.

Regarding Kalyani’s application seeking directions to CBI to supply copies of the evidence collected by Chandigarh Police during its probe, the court said the applicant had received all documents, electronic evidence and soft copies of articles in compliance of Section 207 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). Even list of documents and articles not relied upon during the probe was placed on record and a copy was supplied to her. Besides, she has been supplied with every material that CBI has relied upon to launch prosecution against her.

Now, the court will take up Kalyani’s application for merging the supplementary final report filed under Section 173(8) of CrPC on February 2.