New Delhi: Sirsa MLA and Haryana Lokhit Party (HLP) chief Gopal Kanda has been cleared of charges in the suicide of air hostess Geetika Sharma in 2012.
Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court on Tuesday acquitted the former Haryana minister who had been accused of harassment in Sharma’s suicide note.
A former air hostess with Kanda’s now-defunct MLDR airlines, Sharma was found dead on 5 August, 2012 at her home in Delhi. She left a suicide note accusing Gopal Kanda of harassing and “misusing” her with the active aid of his human esources manager Aruna Chadha.
At the time of his arrest in connection with the case in 2012, Kanda was a minister in the then Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led Congress government in Haryana. He was also booked for rape, but that charge against him was dropped by the Delhi High Court in 2013.
Six months after Geetika’s death, her mother Anuradha Sharma killed herself on 16 February, 2013, leaving behind a suicide note accusing Kanda and Chadha of forcing her daughter to take the extreme step.
Kanda’s name resurfaced earlier this month when his party HLP found mention in the list of 38 parties identified as constituents of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
After his acquittal, Kanda told reporters Tuesday that there was no evidence against him. “This case was made up and the court’s verdict is there before you today,” Kanda added.