Geetika suicide: Kanda's kin detained

A close relative of former Haryana minister Gopal Goyal Kanda was detained Saturday here in the case of suicide of a former flight attendant and Kanda's employee in the national capital Aug 5, Delhi Police said.

Kanda, who owned the now-defunct MDLR Airlines where the 23-year-old Geetika Sharma was earlier employed, was booked for abetment to Geetika's suicide and criminal intimidation. Kanda is untraceable and on the run.

Over a dozen investigators, led by Inspector Pankaj Malik, Saturday afternoon raided Kanda's house in the Civil Lines here and searched it for more than an hour.

"We detained an 18-year-old man who was present there," a police official said, describing him as a close family member of Kanda.

Malik said: "We are looking for Gopal Kanda but he is not there."

The police team also recorded statements of family members of Kanda present in the house. Kanda's office building here was also searched.

The former minister told reporters Tuesday that he had got a notice from Delhi Police and would join investigations from Wednesday. He, however, did not turn up for questioning.

Geetika hanged herself to death in her north Delhi's Ashok Vihar house and in her suicide note blamed Kanda for her extreme step. Her autopsy report Friday confirmed there was no foul play and she died due to hanging.

Aruna Chaddha, another employee of Kanda, who too was blamed by Geetika in her suicide note, was arrested Wednesday.

Geetika's brother Gaurav alleged that his sister was being constantly mentally harassed by Kanda and Chaddha.

Kanda, who began his career as a slipper (chappal) seller and later became a multi-millionaire property dealer, floated the MDLR Airline in 2007. He was elected as an Independent legislator from Sirsa constituency in the October 2009 assembly polls in Haryana and joined the Congress-led government headed by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

He was made minister of state for home by Hooda despite having been named in police cases earlier.