Geetika suicide: Court reserves order on framing charges against Kanda

Delhi court reserved for May 10 its order on framing of charges against former Haryana minister Gopal Goyal Kanda and his aide Aruna Chadha in airhostess Geetika Sharma suicide case.

New Delhi: A Delhi court on Saturday reserved for May 10 its order on framing of charges against former Haryana minister Gopal Goyal Kanda and his aide Aruna Chadha in airhostess Geetika Sharma suicide case. District Judge and Additional Sessions Judge S K Sarvaria reserved his order on framing of charges against Kanda and his employee Chadha, who are accused of abetting the suicide of 23-year-old Geetika. Earlier in the day, during the arguments, police said it has various electronic data, mails, call details and other documents to prove that Kanda and Chaddah had abeted Geetika`s suicide. Additional Public Prosecutor Rajiv Mohan had also said that the act of Kanda`s employee Chanshivroop in fleeing the country after becoming an approver goes against the accused. In judicial custody since August 2012, both Kanda and Chaddah have been charge sheeted under section 306 (abetment of suicide), 120 B (criminal conspiracy), 506 (criminal intimidation), 201 (destruction of evidence), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (forgery with intention to cheat), 469 (forgery with intention to harm reputation) and 471 (using forged documents as genuine) of Indian Penal Code. They have also been booked under section 66-A of the Information and Technology Act which deals with hacking of computers. Former air hostess Geetika, who was earlier employed with Kanda`s MLDR airlines, was found dead on August 5 at her Ashok Vihar residence in North West Delhi. In her August 4 suicide note, 23-year-old Geetika had said she was ending her life due to "harassment" by Kanda and Chaddah. Kanda, 46, was forced to resign from his post of minister of state for home following the registration of case. Police had in its charge sheet said that Kanda was obsessed with Geetika and he and Chadha had unleashed "a series of wilful and malicious acts of mental torture, threat, blackmail and stress" on her which led her to take the extreme step and that pressure was created on her mind to make her submit to the "illegal and lustful wishes of Kanda". In its supplementary charge sheet, the police had said that its probe showed that Kanda tried to get back Geetika from Emirates Airlines with "the ulterior motive of sexually exploiting her". It had also submitted that Chaddah had also taken Geetika for abortion at a private clinic in south Delhi. The doctor had also been made a prosecution witness. During the arguments on framing of charges, Mohan had said that suicide notes of Geetika and that of her mother who ended her life February 15 should be considered as concrete evidence against the accused. Geetika`s mother Anuradha Sharma had also left behind two notes in which she blamed the duo for driving her daughter to take such an extreme step. Kanda, however, had denied the charges while Chadha had been contending that she was a mere employee of the former minister. PTI