The special CBI court on Wednesday deferred the cross-examination of prosecution witness Deepinder Kaur in the 2015 murder case of lawyer and shooter Sippy Sidhu, with the defence seeking to have another material witness examined first.

Sippy was the grandson of late justice SS Sidhu, a former Punjab and Haryana high court judge. (HT File)

Sippy’s mother was present in court and her examination-in-chief, which had been deferred earlier, was completed. However, her cross-examination was deferred on a request by the defence.

Special judge Bhawna Jain also directed that prosecution witness Jasmanpreet Singh, Sippy’s brother, listed at serial number two in the list of witnesses, be summoned for October 1, the date already fixed in the case.

The defence submitted that it wanted the examination-in-chief of Jasmanpreet to be recorded first, before disclosing its defence during the cross-examination of Kaur. The defence said this was necessary to ensure that the witness did not subsequently “improve the version” after learning the defence’s case.

The court accordingly discharged Kaur for the day and directed that she be summoned later.

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 Singh, daughter of retired Himachal Pradesh high court judge justice Sabina, 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. Kalyani was arrested in June 2022 and later charged with murder.

The trial in the sensational murder case officially began on July 8, 2024, over nine years after the shooting.

The case record includes a statement by Sippy’s mother, describing Sippy’s movements on September 20, 2015. It says he visited Sachha Dhan Gurdwara for a bhog ceremony, returned home, later went out for lunch and subsequently returned home after watching a movie. At around 7.30 pm, according to the mother’s account, Sippy left his house after telling her that Kalyani had called him at Sector 27.

The statement says the mother later received a call around 11 pm informing her that Sippy had been murdered at Sector 27. She subsequently alleged that his murder was part of a conspiracy involving Kalyani Singh and her parents.