New Delhi:
Gopal Goyal Kanda visited Dubai to force air hostess Geetika Sharma to quit her job with a leading airline there, the police has told the Delhi High Court while opposing the anticipatory bail plea of the former Haryana Minister, who has been on the run for six days now as he avoids arrest. He is accused of abetting the suicide of 23-year-old Geetika.
The police said in court that Mr Kanda's employee, Aruna Chaddha, who has been arrested in the case, accompanied him to Dubai. Ms Sharma's family has alleged that in the months that she was not working for him, the politician kept harassing the young woman and even ensured that she lost her job in Dubai.
When Geetika Sharma did decide to return to India and work for a company owned by Mr Kanda, there was an unusual aspect to her job - her contract required her to meet with Mr Kanda after work. The police have alleged in court that the former minister and Ms Chaddha suppressed information that between March 30, 2009 and October 20, 2010 Geetika worked as a coordinator with Mr Kanda's MDLR hotels and had to report to him every day.
Two weeks ago, Ms Sharma hanged herself at her home in Delhi. Her suicide note blames Mr Kanda and Ms Chaddha. Ms Sharma's family says Mr Kanda, who was a minister in the Haryana government when she died, harassed and blackmailed her. He has been charged with abetment to suicide and criminal intimidation, as has been Ms Chaddha; but the police has not been able to trace the Haryana politician.
The Delhi High Court has reserved the order on Mr Kanda's anticipatory bail plea. A lower court refused his request last week. His lawyers have appealed against that verdict. In their petition asking for bail, they have described Ms Sharma as a "hyper-sensitive girl" who felt "jilted" by Mr Kanda.
Today, his lawyers said in the High Court that Mr Kanda had not surfaced so far and helped in investigations as he feared arrest. They described Geetika as a bold and ambitious person who "possibly wanted a relationship with Kanda." The former minister's lawyers have also argued that if he is charged with misuse of power, exploitation and preferential treatment, that does not amount to abetment of suicide.
Senior advocate K.T.S. Tusli, who represented Mr Kanda, said suicide notes could not be taken as gospel truth. "Suicide letters are written in anger and so any allegations can be levelled out of anger," he said.
Ms Sharma first joined MDLR, an airline owned by Mr Kanda, in 2006, when she was just 17. She tried to quit that same year, but her salary was hiked. In 2009, MDLR stopped flying and Ms Sharma moved to the UAE to work for Emirates Airways in October 2010. Just five months later, she was back in Delhi, working for another company owned by Mr Kanda.
The police has Ms Sharma's laptop - it hopes to prove that stored there are emails sent by Mr Kanda, warning her to return to work for him.
The police counsel told the court today that when police teams went to Mr Kanda's office there were no computers there. The police say Mr Kanda's questioning was needed to access his computers and laptops which were missing from his office.