Kanda blames aide for Geetika suicide

As the police custody of former Haryana minister Gopal Kanda comes to an end on Friday, cops say he has managed to pass much of the blame for the suicide of his employee Geetika sharma on to co-accused Aruna Chaddha.Sources said Kanda has told the police that he was not in touch with Geetika in the last 45 days of her life and in no way could have instigated the suicide. The fact that it was Aruna Chaaddha, his key employee, who made many calls to Geetika in the days preceding her suicide, has only helped Kanda’s case.

Meanwhile, police confirmed that Ankita, the other woman named in Geetika’s suicide note, had been traced in Singapore — five days after TOI had reported that she could be in that country. Police said on Thursday they were in the process of serving her a notice to join the investigation.

Kanda will be produced in court on Friday. Cops will seek an extension of his remand, arguing, among other things, that they would need Kanda to be around when they question Ankita.

According to a source, Kanda has told the cops that if Aruna made a number of calls to Geetika it was not because he had asked her to. “It’s not my problem as I never gave any such directions to Aruna,” he reportedly said.

Even Geetika’s family has stated that on August 3, it was Aruna who called them up. Around 10pm the next day, Geetika’s mother tried calling up Kanda to ask what the problem was but he did not take her call.