'Kanda is a liar who has been harassing Geetika since 2010'

Former Haryana minister of state for home Gopal Kanda may have claimed that he didn’t know former employee Geetika Sharma, who committed suicide alleging he had been harassing her, but her family had refuted the statement with photographic evidence of the minister with them and has demanded a probe by the CBI. “He is a liar, who has been harassing Geetika since she left MDLR airlines in May 2010,” Ankit Sharma, her younger brother, said. Showing a photo of Geetika with the former minister’s wife, Sharma alleged that Kanda had been mentally torturing his sister, which had led to her committing suicide. Geetika, a former airhostess with Kanda’s MDLR airlines, had committed suicide on Sunday and in her suicide note had alleged harassment by the minister. The minister, who has been charged with abetment to suicide, has resigned from his post and alleged it was a conspiracy. [caption id=“attachment_407603” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Former minister Gopal Kanda (left) with Geetika’s parents in Mumbai. Image courtesy Geetika Sharma’s family.[/caption] After leaving MDLR, where she was working as a group coordinator, Geetika joined Emirates airlines and posted in Dubai. Her family members alleged that she had to leave the international airline in three months because of harassment by Kanda, who asked her to return to India. “He used to tell me that I should call her back to India as Dubai was not a good place,” Geetika’s mother Anuradha Sharma, said. She said that Kanda and his wife Saras Goyal had visited their Ashok Vihar residence in Delhi to discuss the matter. Geetika’s mother alleged that Kanda had created a fake email account pretending to be the Gurgaon police and had sent a message to Emirates airlines questioning Geetika’s credentials. When the family confronted Kanda on this email, he reportedly pleaded guilty and said he would give Geetika a good post in his firm if she returned to India, the girl’s family has alleged in the FIR lodged against the former minister. Following the incident, in In January 2011 Geetika returned to MDLR as Director (corporate office) in the airline’s Gurgaon office. However, the job lasted only for three months. In June, she enrolled herself for an MBA course in a institute in Delhi and was allegedly sponsored by Kanda. “All this while, Kanda and his associate Aruna Chaddha continued trying to convince Geetika to return to the company,” Anuradha said. On Saturday night, Kanda allegedly spoke to Anuradha and asked her to send Geetika to the company office to sign some documents. “He said if Geetika does not sign the documents, he would lodge a case against her with the police,” Anuradha said. When Geetika got to know about the call from the minister, she was very worried and eventually committed suicide, she said. The police has confiscated Geetika’s mobile phone and laptop as part of investigations. Kanda is likely to be questioned in this matter on Tuesday.