Ex-air hostess suicide: Court rejects co-accused's bail plea

Aruna Chaddha, a co-accused along with former Haryana minister Gopal Kanda in a case of suicide by a former Delhi-based air hostess, was denied bail by a Delhi court Saturday.

Chaddha, who surrendered after the expiry of a two-month interim bail, had sought regular bail, saying she is the mother of a nine-year-old girl and wanted to take care of her daughter.

Additional Sessions Judge M.C. Gupta, who had earlier granted her interim bail, rejected her regular bail application.

Chaddha, an official of Kanda's now-defunct MDLR Airlines where the suicide victim, a Delhi resident, was employed, was out on interim bail that expired Nov 15.

Chaddha and Kanda are accused of abetting the suicide of the 23-year-old former air hostess. Both the accused have denied the allegations.

Chaddha was arrested Aug 8 last year.

In a note, the suicide victim accused Kanda and Chaddha of harassing her and forcing her to kill herself. She died on the night of Aug 4-5 at her house in Delhi.

Kanda was charged with rape, abetment to rape, abetment to suicide, criminal conspiracy, forgery under the Indian Penal Code and Information Technology Act for hacking computers and sending offensive or false messages.

Police said in a chargesheet filed Oct 6, 2012, that Kanda was obsessed with the former air hostess and he and Chaddha had indulged in a series of wilful and malicious acts of mental torture, threat, blackmail and stress against her, which led her to take the extreme step.

Kanda was arrested Aug 18, 2012, after he surrendered before police in north Delhi's Ashok Vihar area.