Former Haryana minister Gopal Kanda acquitted in air hostess suicide case

Geetika, a former air hostess with Kanda's MLDR airlines, who was later promoted as a director of one of Gopal Goyal Kanda's companies, was found dead on August 5, 2012

Delhi's Rouse Avenu Court on Tuesday acquitted former Haryana Minister Gopal Goyal Kanda in the case of abetment of suicide of former air hostess Geetika Sharma.

Geetika, a former air hostess with Kanda’s MLDR airlines, who was later promoted to a director of one of Gopal Kanda’s companies, was found dead on August 5, 2012, at her residence in Delhi’s Ashok Vihar.

In her suicide note, the former air hostess accused him of harassment. She alleged that she was ending her life due to “harassment” by Kanda and another person.

Kanda, 57, is the president of the Haryana Lokhit Party and the MLA for Sirsa. He was also a minister in the erstwhile Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led Congress government.

After the incident surfaced and a case was registered against him, Kanda was forced to resign as minister of state for home.

In the said case, Kanda was facing charges under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including 306 (abetment of suicide), 506 (criminal intimidation), 201 (distruction of evidence), 120B (criminal conspiracy), and 466 (forgery).

He was arrested shortly after Sharma's death for allegedly abetting the suicide. Initially, he was charged with raping Sharma under Sections 376 and 377 (unnatural sex). These charges, however, were dropped in 2014 when he was released on bail.

The court had also questioned several witnesses, including the investigating officer, Kanda's office employees, and his close aides.