New Delhi, July 25, 2023: In a significant development, the Rouse Avenue court in Delhi delivered its verdict on Tuesday, acquitting former Haryana minister Gopal Goyal Kanda in the high-profile case of abetment of suicide of air hostess Geetika Sharma.
Co-accused Aruna Chadha was also cleared of all charges. Special Judge Vikas Dhull ruled that the prosecution failed to establish the charges beyond all reasonable doubt.
The accused had been facing multiple charges, including abetment of suicide (Section 306), criminal intimidation (Section 506), destruction of evidence (Section 201), criminal conspiracy (Section 120B), and forgery (Section 466). Initially, Kanda was also accused of rape (Section 376) and unnatural sex (Section 377), but the Delhi High Court later quashed these charges.
Geetika Sharma, a former employee of Kanda’s MDLR Airlines, was found dead at her residence in northwest Delhi. She had alleged mental harassment by Kanda, who was then serving as the Minister of State for Home Affairs in the Haryana government and the managing director of the MDLR group. In her suicide note, she had also implicated his associate, Aruna Chadha. Tragically, a year later, Geetika Sharma’s mother also took her own life.
The trial against Kanda and Chadha commenced in May 2013, with charges of rape and abetment to suicide, and later the addition of the charge of unnatural sex. However, the Delhi High Court quashed the charges of rape and unnatural sex on July 25, 2013. Subsequently, the trial court ordered a fresh trial against Kanda and Chadha solely for abetment to suicide, leading to the recent verdict.
Following the acquittal, Gopal Goyal Kanda asserted his innocence, maintaining that there was no evidence against him and the case was fabricated. The court’s decision has brought closure to a long-standing legal battle that garnered significant attention and scrutiny.
