Kanda charged with abetting Geetika suicide

Two months after former airhostess Geetika Sharma committed suicide, the Delhi Police on Saturday filed a chargesheet against former Haryana minister Gopal Kanda and his employee Aruna Chaddha, accusing them of abetting her suicide.

Two months after former airhostess Geetika Sharma committed suicide, the Delhi Police on Saturday filed a chargesheet against former Haryana minister Gopal Kanda and his employee Aruna Chaddha, accusing them of abetting her suicide.

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Geetika, a 23-year-old former airhostess with Kanda’s MDLR airline, had committed suicide at her Ashok Vihar residence on August 5. In her suicide note, she had alleged that she was ending her life due to harassment by Kanda and MDLR official Chaddha.

While Chaddha was arrested on August 8, when she was called for questioning by the police, Kanda surrendered and was arrested on August 18. Many bail pleas moved by the duo were rejected by the court and both are in judicial custody now.

The police has said that "a series of willful and malicious acts of mental torture, threat, blackmail and stress" caused Geetika to end her life.

“After hearing from her mother that Kanda was threatening to register a false FIR against her at Gurgaon and was also going to publicise this fact which Geetika thought would jeopardise her future, she hrightly feared that she would be viewed with suspicion and distrust by her colleagues, friends and future employers and became extremely depressed and therefore, chose to end her life by hanging herself,” the chargesheet said.

Apart from abetment of suicide, Kanda and Chaddha have been booked under Sections 120 B (criminal conspiracy), 506 (punishment for 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 the Indian Penal Code and Section 66-A of the Information and Technology Act, which deals with hacking of computers.

The 1020-page chargesheet filed by the police names 65 prosecution witnesses and includes the gynaecologist who aborted Geetika’s pregnancy in March 2012.

The police said it will file a supplementary chargesheet as it was ascertaining the role of Kanda’s employee Chanshivroop. According to police, Chanshivroop had sent the forged e-mail to Geetika about the alleged extradition proceedings against her in Dubai and also kept a tab on her in the Gulf emirate.