Former Haryana minister Gopal Goyal Kanda’s police custody was on Saturday extended for three more days by the Rohini district court, giving additional time to Delhi Police to plug holes in the Geetika Sharma suicide case.
Delhi Police sought extension of Kanda’s seven-day police custody, which ended on Friday, stating that they are yet to recover Kanda’s mobile phones through which he made calls and sent text messages to Geetika. Investigators are also hoping that Kanda would lead them to missing hard disks which are believed to contain important information regarding the case.
Additional public prosecutor Rajiv Mohan further told Metropolitan Magistrate Devender Kumar Jangala that police have not received satisfactory answers from Kanda during his remand as he was non-cooperative and gave evasive answers.
“Mobile phones and hard disks are crucial evidence for the case and police need more time to collect them. The accused is not providing any helpful information on the matter,” Mohan said.
Besides that, he also informed the court that Kanda has three copies of passport which also have not been provided. “We have been given only one copy of passport whereas the remaining two are yet to be recovered, which are important to establish the fact that Kanda followed Geetika to Dubai,” Mohan said.
However, senior advocate Ramesh Gupta, appearing for Kanda, opposed the plea for police custody saying that seven days were enough for police to gather information. He also alleged that Kanda was being tortured and mentally harassed by senior police officials.
“Dinesh Kumar is the information officer of the case, however, everyone from SHO to DCP are grilling him. How are they authorised to do so,” Gupta asked.
At this, the court directed the investigating officer (IO) to mention the name of any other official in the case diary, who interrogates Kanda during his remand period.
Gupta further stated that police have so far failed to produce relevant evidence in the court to prove that Kanda abetted Geetika’s suicide. “He was not in touch with her for past two months,” Gupta said.
Kanda, chairman and managing director of MDLR Group, was named in the suicide note left behind by Geetika, who hanged herself at her residence in Ashok Vihar area of north west Delhi on August 5. Geetika’s family alleges that Kanda was harassing the 23-year-old, who worked with several MDLR Group companies.
Kanda however claims innocence saying that he is a victim of a conspiracy.