Delhi sessions court stays summons of former Haryana minister Gopal Goyal Kanda
The stay order was passed by additional sessions judge Rajrani, after Kanda’s counsel, RS Malik filed a revision petition against the trial court’s order. He submitted that at the time Anuradha had killed herself, Kanda was in judicial custody and there was no possibility of instigating her to suicide.
A Delhi sessions court on Saturday stayed a trial court’s March 18 order summoning former Haryana home minister Gopal Goyal Kanda and his alleged aide Aruna Chadha as accused in a 2012 abetment of suicide case.
Anuradha Sharma’s daughter, Geetika, an airhostess, was found hanging in a room at the family’s Ashok Vihar residence on August 5, 2012. The police found two suicide notes, in which Geetika blamed Kanda and Chadha.
Six months later, Anuradha took her own life, blaming Kanda and Chadha for her death.
The stay order was passed by additional sessions judge Rajrani, after Kanda’s counsel, RS Malik filed a revision petition against the trial court’s order. He submitted that at the time Anuradha had killed herself, Kanda was in judicial custody and there was no possibility of instigating her to suicide.
He further submitted that it was not mentioned in Anuradha’s suicide note that Kanda is responsible for his death.
The trial court had earlier passed the order after Anuradha’s husband, Dinesh Sharma appeared before the court and said his wife took the step due to the “harassment and torture meted out to her at the behest of Gopal Kanda and Aruna Chadha”. He had further submitted that despite being in custody, Kanda and Chadha used their “money and power” to harass and torture his wife, due to which she was “compelled” to end her life.
The trial court had noted that crucial witness statements, such as of Anuradha’s son Ankit, was missing from the police files. It had also rapped the investigating officer (IO) who had filed the cancellation report in the case, “for deliberately not attaching on record the state of witnesses”. The court had also asked the ministry of home affairs to take action against the IO.
In the revision petition before the sessions court, Kanda’s counsel also said that at the time of Anuradha’s suicide, the investigating officer had examined and recorded the statement of her son and husband, but they had not deposed anything against Kanda or Chadha.
He argued that the trial court jumped to the “conclusion” and “summoned” Kanda after Anuradha’s husband made an oral submission.
He submitted that in the present case, the trial court summoned the Kanda as an accused, instead of directing the probe agency to investigate further.
The court, while issuing notice to Dinesh Sharma, said it found substance in the counsel’s submission.
It has listed the matter for further arguments on May 2.