Kanda exploited Geetika, say police

Former Haryana minister Gopal Kanda mentally harassed his ex-employee Geetika Sharma to sign some documents relating to his business and to quash a case in Goa, police said on Tuesday.

Police said Kanda also “exploited Geetika” by running several ventures in her name, and wanted Geetika to quash a case filed by her against his two employees – Nupur Mehra and Ankita Singh.

After MDLR Airlines became defunct, Geetika was sent to handle Kanda’s Mint Cruise Casino in Goa during 2009. The MDLR Group had bought the Leela Group-owned offshore casino ‘Rio’ and had renamed it ‘Mint Cruise Casino’.

Nupur Mehta, whose name figured in a cricket match-fixing controversy, and Ankita Singh were working there. Nupur was also with the MDLR Airlines before joining the casino.

Ankita, a resident of Satna in Madhya Pradesh, was a dancer and was spotted by Kanda when she went to his farmhouse in Gurgaon for a performance. Later, he gave her a job in the casino as a dancer.

In 2009, after finding some irregularities and fighting with Nupur and Ankita in Goa, Geetika had filed an FIR against them. Then Kanda had been trying to put pressure on Geetika after she left his company to withdraw the case.

Kanda started some business ventures and societies in Geetika’s name and even made her the chairperson of Sundale Education Society and AN Society. He has been running a few businesses in her name to allegedly evade tax and convert black money into white.

He was forcing her to sign all necessary documents to show that she was a chairperson and a director in his ventures, even after she had left his company.

The police came to know that Kanda was using Geetika as a facade to cover his illegal business after they recovered two hard disks, which were missing from MDLR Group offices. “We recovered incriminating documents relating to the case and we are verifying them,” said a senior police office.

“Everybody involved in the case will be questioned,” said the officer.

Sexual exploitation?

When asked on alleged sexual exploitation of Geetika by Kanda, investigators said they are verifying facts and collecting evidence. “We are probing the case from all angles. It’s too early to say anything,” said the officer.