Geetika suicide case: Non-bailable warrant issued against Kanda

A non-bailable warrant (NBW) was today issued by a Delhi court against absconding former Haryana minister Gopal Goyal Kanda, an accused in the Geetika Sharma suicide case, even as Delhi Police took into custody his relative in Sirsa (Haryana) for questioning.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate D K Jangala directed Delhi Police to execute the arrest warrant against Kanda by August 24 and file its report. The police told the court that despite their best efforts they have been unable to arrest Kanda. Order on his anticipatory bail plea has been reserved by the Delhi High Court.

Bunty Bansal, son-in-law of Kanda's brother-in-law, was questioned by a police team in connection with a call he had made to Nepal yesterday.

Gopal Kanda and Geetika Sharma

A nearly 25-member Delhi Police team swooped on the Sirsa residence of the suspect in the wee hours and after brief questioning took him into custody. Amid reports that Kanda may have slipped into Nepal, the sources said that police questioned Bansal, who is a contractor, about his nearly 40-minute call to Nepal.

Meanwhile, Kanda's aide and co-accused Aruna Chaddha was today sent to judicial custody for 14 days. Chaddha was arrested on August 8 after she was called in for questioning by the police.

On August 9, the trial court had rejected Kanda's plea for anticipatory bail. Kanda has remained elusive ever since Sharma was found hanging in her flat in north west Delhi on August 5. Sharma (23), a former air hostess with Kanda's now defunct MDLR airline, had alleged in her suicide note that she was ending her life due to harassment by Kanda and MDLR official Aruna Chaddha.

Kanda and Chaddha had denied the allegations. Kanda, an Independent MLA who held Home, Urban Bodies and Industry and Commerce portfolios, resigned the following day.u00a0