New Delhi: A Delhi Court yesterday framed charges against former Haryana minister Gopal Goyal Kanda for raping and abetting the suicide of former flight attendant Geetika Sharma.
District Judge SK Sarvaria also framed charges of abetting rape and suicide against Kanda’s employee Aruna Chadha.
They have also been charged with criminal conspiracy and forgery under Indian Penal Code and Information Technology Act for hacking a computer and sending offensive or false messages.
The court framed the charges against Kanda and Chadha on its own on the basis of material on record. The Delhi Police, in its charge sheet, had not invoked offences of rape and unnatural sex against the accused.
After framing the charges, the district judge sent the matter for trial before the fast track court dealing with sexual offences.
The court will record the prosecution’s evidence on May 27.
From now on, the name of the victim cannot be mentioned as the court has converted the suicide case into a sexual offence case.
Geetika, 23, was found hanging from the ceiling in her house in north Delhi on August 5 last year.
She left behind two suicide notes blaming Kanda and Chaddha, a former official in Kanda’s now-defunct MDLR Airlines, where Geetika had worked. Both are in judicial custody and deny involvement in the suicide.
IANS
