New Delhi: Former Haryana minister Gopal Goyal Kanda was acquitted in the abetment of suicide case of air hostess Geetika Sharma by the Rouse Avenue court in Delhi on Tuesday, the Indian Express reported.The court also acquitted co-accused Aruna Chadha, stating that the prosecution could not establish the charges beyond reasonable doubt, the report said.The two were charged under sections 306 (abetment of suicide), 506 (criminal intimidation), 201 (destruction of evidence), 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 466 (forgery). The trial court had also framed charges of rape and unnatural sex against Kanda, but the Delhi high court had dismissed these charges.Following the acquittal, Kanda addressed reporters outside the court. “There was no evidence against me; this case was made against me, and today the court has given its verdict,” he was quoted by the Indian Express as saying.Geetika Sharma was found dead at her residence in Delhi’s Ashok Vihar on August 5, 2012. The 23-year-old was working with Kanda’s now defunct MDLR Airlines and had accused him of mental harassment. Sharma had mentioned both Kanda and Chadha in her suicide note. A year later, Sharma’s mother had also died by suicide, the report said.Initially, Kanda was charged with rape and abetment to suicide, with the charge of unnatural sex added later. After the trial began in May 2013, Kanda and Chadha challenged the charges before the Delhi high court, which, on July 25, 2013, dismissed the charges of rape and unnatural sex.In December that year, the trial court initiated a new trial against the two solely for abetment to suicide.Interestingly, while the BJP has maintained a tactical distance from Kanda and his party for all these years – with some BJP’s leaders even protesting against Kanda after Sharma’s suicide – there recently appeared to be a thawing in relations. Kanda figured in the list of invitees to the National Democratic Alliance meet held last week. Kanda had earlier expressed unconditional support for the Manohar Lal Khattar government, but the BJP had been careful not to offer him any positions.
