Geetika Sharma suicide: Gopal Kanda seeks bail

New Delhi: Five days after the Delhi High Court quashed charges of rape and unnatural sex against him, former Haryana minister Gopal Kanda on Wednesday sought bail from a Delhi court.

The fresh bail plea was moved before Additional Sessions Judge M C Gupta, who is presiding over the special fast-track court dealing with cases of sexual offences against women, and was earlier hearing the matter. However, with the charges of rape and unnatural sex being quashed by the high court, the application was sent to the court of District Judge and Additional Sessions Judge S K Sarvaria and has been fixed for hearing for August 5. Kanda and his employee Aruna Chadha are accused of abetting the suicide of 23-year-old former airhostess with his MDLR Airlines. She was found dead on August 5, last year at her Ashok Vihar residence in North West Delhi. In her August 4 suicide note, she had said she was ending her life due to "harassment" by Kanda, 46, and Chadha, 40. While the trial court had framed additional charges of rape and unnatural sex against Kanda and of their abetment against Chadha, the high court had on July 25 quashed the charges while deciding an appeal moved by Chadha. "The ASJ fell into gross error in framing the charge under Sections 376/377 (rape and unnatural sex) against the co-accused Kanda which cannot be sustained. Since no charge against co-accused under these Sections could have been framed, the petitioner (Chadha) could not have been guilty of abetting," the high court had said. PTI