New Delhi:
Former Haryana Minister Gopal Goyal Kanda will be arrested - just as soon as the police can find him. A court in Delhi today refused to grant anticipatory bail to Mr Kanda, who is missing, but was represented in court by his lawyers.
Mr Kanda has been charged with abetment to suicide and criminal intimidation - his former employee, an air hostess named Geetika Sharma, hung herself at her home over the weekend. In a note found in her bedroom, she blamed him and a senior executive named Anuradha Chadha, who works for him.
Six police teams are looking for Mr Kanda who skipped an appointment yesterday with the police which wanted to question him. The police has searched his farmhouse at Gurgaon, and his home and office in his constituency of Sirsa. Airports have also been warned to alert the police if Mr Kanda is spotted.
In court, Mr Kanda's lawyers described Ms Sharma as "a hyper-sensitive girl" with "mixed emotions of love and hatred" for Mr Kanda. They said she acted "jilted."
Ms Sharma's family says that in the days before she died, the politician called her repeatedly, blackmailing and threatening her. Hours before she hung herself, he also called her mother, claims Ms Sharma's family.
Before he went underground, Mr Kanda told NDTV that he had not been in touch with Ms Sharma for two months, which he planned to prove through cellphone records. However, the police has identified a man who worked for him who allegedly gave the former minister his SIM card, allowing Mr Kanda to call the air hostess from a number not registered as his own.