Sirsa:
Former Haryana minister Gopal Goyal Kanda may have been evasive about his links with Geetika Sharma, but NDTV has accessed a video which shows Ms Sharma accompanying Mr Kanda at an election rally in Sirsa.
The Haryana politician was named in the suicide note left behind by Geetika, who hanged herself in her home in Delhi on August 5. He was arrested on August 18 after being on the run for nearly 10 days and is presently in police custody.
The video, shot during an election rally in 2009, shows Geetika sharing the dais along with other stars like stand-up comedians Saloni and Bharti. Also seen is Rati Agnihotri.
Geetika's family alleges that Mr Kanda was harassing the 23-year-old, who had worked in several of his companies. He has been charged with abetment to suicide, criminal intimidation, criminal conspiracy and destruction of evidence. The charge of abetting suicide under Section 306 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
Searches at his office in Gurgaon have helped the police locate hard drives that allegedly have copies of emails between Mr Kanda and Geetika.
The police has told the Delhi High Court that Mr Kanda with his employee Aruna Chaddha, who is also a co-accused in the case, had been pressuring Ms Sharma for a number of years to ensure that she continued to work with his MDLR group of companies; they even visited Dubai when Ms Sharma was working with an airline there, to coerce her to return, the police has alleged. But Mr Kanda has denied the charges.
The police have also told the court that it has prima facie evidence against Mr Kanda and Ms Chaddha, who has also been charged with abetment to suicide and criminal intimidation of Ms Sharma.