Air hostess suicide case, court will pronounce verdict on July 25

New Delhi: A Delhi court on Thursday deferred to July 25 its verdict in the suicide case of a former air hostess who was found dead at her Delhi residence on August 5, 2012. Former Haryana Minister Gopal Goyal Kanda and Aruna Chadha, senior manager in his company MDLR, are accused in the case of abetting Geetika Sharma to commit suicide. Kanda was a minister in the then Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led Congress government. Special Judge Vikas Dhul of Rouse Avenue Court adjourned the matter. Sharma, who worked as an air hostess with Kanda’s MLDR Airlines, was found dead a day after writing the suicide note. In her suicide note dated August 4, she had said that she was ending her life due to alleged harassment by Kanda and another person. During Sharma’s tenure at the airline, three years after he joined as a trainee, he was promoted to director of one of Kanda’s companies. After the case was registered, Kanda was asked to resign from the post of minister. The trial court had also framed charges of sections 376 (rape) and 377 (unnatural sex) against Kanda, among other charges under the Indian Penal Code, which were later quashed by the Delhi High Court. Kanda is facing charges under sections 306 (abetment of suicide), 506 (criminal intimidation), 201 (destruction of evidence), 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 466 (forgery). He started MDLR Airlines from Gurugram in 2008, however the airline ceased operations in 2009 after getting embroiled in controversies.