Indus Valley Times

NEW DELHI,JULY 25 : Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court on Monday acquitted former Haryana Minister Gopal Goyal Kanda and his aide & co-accused Aruna Chadha in connection with the death of air hostess Geetika Sharma by suicide.

Kanda was arrested in 2012 on charges of rape and abetment to suicide after a Delhi court put him on trial.

The accused were facing charges under various sections, including 306 (abetment of suicide), 506 (criminal intimidation), 201 (destruction of evidence), 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 466 (forgery).

The trial court had also framed charges of rape (376) and 377 (unnatural sex) against Kanda.

The Delhi High Court, however, later quashed the charges under 376 and 377 of the IPC.

Special Judge Vikas Dhull said the prosecution failed to prove the charges beyond all reasonable doubts.

Sharma worked in Kanda’s aviation company, MDLR airlines, named after his father Murli Dhar Lakh Ram, and had accused him of harassment in her ‘suicide note.’

Geetika was found dead on August 5, 2012, at her Ashok Vihar residence in North-West Delhi.

Kanda, the then Sirsa MLA, was also initially booked for rape, but the charge was dropped when the Delhi High Court granted him bail in the abetment-to-suicide case in 2014.

In 2012, Kanda was Haryana’s home minister in the Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led Congress government. He also held the urban bodies, industry and commerce portfolios.

Six months later, Sharma’s mother also allegedly committed suicide and Kanda was again accused of abetting it. Kanda tendered his resignation when the row erupted.

Kanda, who was earlier associated with the INLD, fought the 2009 Haryana Assembly polls as an Independent and won, after being denied a party ticket.

Later, he extended his support to the Congress when it fell short of a majority and was made a minister.

Kanda’s rise is well known in his hometown Sirsa, where he was the owner of a shoe shop once. He later joined the real estate business and then dabbled in the aviation sector.

-PTI