Court extends judicial custody of Kanda, Chaddha

New Delhi: A Delhi court today extended the judicial custody of former Haryana minister Gopal Goyal Kanda and that of his aide Aruna Chaddha in the Geetika Sharma suicide case by 14 days, conducting its proceedings through video conferencing. Metropolitan Magistrate Bhupinder Singh remanded Kanda and Chaddha to judicial custody till 25 September after the Delhi Police said investigation in the case was still on.[caption id=“attachment_451361” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Gopal Goyal Kanda. PTI[/caption] The duo were not brought to the court physically from Rohini Jail after expiry of their judicial custody today. “Accused (Kanda and Chaddha) produced through electronic video linkage (EVL). Heard. Accused be remanded in judicial custody till 25 September,” Metropolitan Magistrate Bhupinder Singh said. The court had earlier allowed the Delhi Police’s plea for conducting proceedings through video conferencing as, the police said, a huge crowd gathers in court premises when the two accused are produced there. The police had said that due to media hype and the crowd of onlookers and supporters of the accused, they did not want to bring them to court physically. In future proceedings also, Kanda and Chaddha would be produced before the judge through video conferencing. Kanda was arrested on 18 August after he had surrendered before the police, 13 days after former air hostess Geetika Sharma was found dead on 5 August in her Ashok Vihar house in North West Delhi. Chaddha was arrested on 8 August after she was called for questioning by the police for her alleged role in the case. In her suicide note, Geetika had alleged that Kanda and one of the MDLR employees, Chaddha, were harassing her to rejoin the former minister’s firm after she left the job. In her 4 August suicide note, 23-year-old Geetika had said she was ending her life due to “harassment” by Kanda and Chaddha. Both Kanda and Chaddha have been accused of abetting Geetika’s suicide. PTI