Why was Kanda untraceable for 13 days? Delhi Police won't say

Leaks can be managed. But disclosures of public records under the Right to Information Act have a tendency to reveal more than what the authorities are willing to tell. So while the unsigned confession statement of former Haryana minister Gopal Kanda- main accused in the Geetika Sharma suicide case - has found its way into the press , details about the Delhi Police’s role in registering the case and the raids conducted to arrest him have been denied under the RTI Act. For 13 days after 23-year-old air hostess Geetika Sharma killed herself – having left a suicide note holding Kanda and his aide Aruna Chaddha responsible for her death – the Delhi police failed to trace the politician. Ending their embarrassingly long streak of inefficiency, he surrendered before the police in Delhi on 18 August. [caption id=“attachment_496701” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Kanda finally surrendered to the police. PTI[/caption] RTI journalist Afroz Alam Sahil, in an application to the Delhi Police on 14 August, sought copies of the FIR, the post-mortem report, details of raids conducted and expenses incurred by the police to nab Kanda, and copies of official letters exchanged between the Delhi and Haryana police departments and the respective governments in connection with the case. “Despite raids being conducted by the police, Kanda remained untraceable for nearly two weeks. He was arrested after he gave himself up the police. I wanted the details of the raids conducted by the Police. Almost two months later, I got a response on October 8, though the letter is dated September 18, that under Section 8 (1) (h) of the RTI Act, which states that information that interferes with investigation, can be withheld under the RTI. But I fail to understand how providing details of the police raids can interfere with the investigation. I have filed for first appeal,” says Sahil. On October 6, the Delhi police filed its charge sheet against Kanda. He and Chaddha, a former employee of the now defunct MDLR airlines that was owned by Kanda, are accused of abetting Geetika Sharma’s suicide and destroying evidence, among other charges. With the charge sheet now filed and investigations complete, the Delhi Police will have a hard time explaining why information cannot now be provided under the RTI Act.