MDLR ex-staffer's suicide: Opposition demands Gopal Kanda's arrest

New Delhi: The Opposition Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) workers on Sunday hit the streets in protest against former Haryana MoS for Home Gopal Kanda who was booked for abetment to suicide of a former employee of the airline company he ran.

Kanda was charged under Section 306 of the IPC on Sunday afternoon after the Delhi Police recovered a suicide note from the victim, Geetika Sharma, blaming him and another senior official of now-defunct MDLR Airlines, Aruna Chadha, for her decision to end her life.

Kanda, who resigned from his post of MoS Home on Sunday, is yet to be arrested.

The INLD has accused Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda of shielding him.

The suicide note, a copy of which is with CNN-IBN, said, "I'm shattered inside. Two people responsible for my death are Aruna Chadha amd Gopal Goyal Kanda. They have ruined my life and now they are trying to sabotage my family members. Gopal Goyal is a fraud. He always has bad intentions towards girls. He is a man of no shame and no guilt."

The Sharmas are shattered by her death. Their 23-year-old daughter had joined MDLR as an air-hostess, but was made the director of a subsidiary company by Kanda. Geetika though quit the job within one-and-a-half months. Her family said that Kanda kept pestering her to return to work, and even visited their house.

Geetika's brother said, "They harassed my sister mentally and psychologically for a long period of time. She could not take the pressure and succumbed."

Chief Minister Hooda and the Centre have promised action, while the Opposition in the state has gone on the offensive.

INLD said that there had been allegations against Kanda earlier and that the suicide note was enough proof to take action against him.

Kanda's arrest could hold the key to this case. The Haryana minister has had a controversial past. The question now is what action the Haryana government will take against its own minister.