Former Haryana Home Minister Gopal Kanda, who has been accused of abetting the suicide of his former employee Geetika Sharma, remained elusive even five days after the incident came to light on Sunday.
Even as the Delhi police raided Kanda’s house in Haryana and Gurgaon, there was strong criticism of the cops letting him slip away. After the lower court refused to accept his anticipatory bail plea, the only option left before him is either to surrender before the police or approach the Delhi High Court for anticipatory bail.
As Kanda’s downslide started after the suicide note of 23-year-old former flight attendant and director of the MDLR Airlines named him and his friend Aruna Chadha on Sunday, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda also sought to distance himself from the Sirsa MP.
“He was my minister, but he has resigned and I have accepted his resignation. I am a law-abiding person and anyone who flouts the law doesn’t have my approval. He (Kanda) should join investigation,” Hooda told reporters, while adding that the law was taking its own course.
Meanwhile, Geetika’s parents have alleged that Kanda was ‘obsessed’ with her. The police have been going through telephone records of Kanda’s aide, who gave his SIM card to the former minister to make calls to Geetika.
The police have constituted six teams to nab the MP from Haryana.
“Raids were conducted in Kanda’s Sirsa and Delhi residences on Thursday night. We have also questioned his close relatives and are trying to unravel the conspiracy. His close relatives were also questioned, but he could not be located,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (North-West) P Karunakaran.
A police party headed by ACP Shailender Singh swooped down at Kanda’s Rania road house in Sirsa. This is the second search conducted at Kanda’s house within 24 hours.
Meanwhile, the Delhi police tried to downplay the delay to nab him. “Sometimes, it takes time to nab a person. He will be caught. Every person has so many places to take shelter... we have declared Kanda an absconder after he did not come up for questioning despite issuing a notice,” said a senior police official.
The Delhi police have already received the autopsy report of Geetika on Thursday. However, the officials remained tight-lipped on the contents of the report.
Geetika was found hanging in her Ashok Vihar house in north Delhi on August 4 morning. She earlier worked in Kanda’s now-defunct MDLR Airlines.
Geetika had joined the Emirates Airways after the MDLA Airlines went defunct. According to her suicide note, she took the extreme step due to mental harrassment by Kanda and his colleague Aruna Chadha. Even after leaving the job, they were asking her to rejoin any company of Kanda.