Chaddha's bail plea withdrawn from high court

Aruna Chaddha, an accused in former flight attendant Geetika Sharma's suicide case, Friday withdrew her bail plea from the Delhi High Court with the liberty to move fresh bail in the trial court.

Senior advocate Ramesh Gupta, appearing for Chaddha, withdrew the bail plea after the court posted the matter for November and refused to give an early date of hearing.

Gupta told the court that if such a prolonged date is given, the whole purpose of bail application will be defeated as the police will file chargesheet in the case and it will be different then.

Justice Manmohan, refusing to grant early hearing, allowed Gupta to withdraw the plea with liberty to file fresh bail petition before the trial court.

Chaddha, 40, was an official of the now-defunct MDLR Airlines where Geetika had worked.

She sought bail saying that she had a seven-year-old daughter and old parents to look after.

Chaddha pleaded to the court that she was the sole bread earner of her family.

"Applicant (Chaddha) has old and ailing parents (father 71 years and mother 63 years) and both are suffering from heart and other ailments," the plea said.

She claimed that the material collected by police did not show that she was involved in abetting Geetika's suicide.

"The bare perusal of the FIR (first information report) and the material collected by the investigating agency does not show that the applicant is involved in any manner in the abetment of suicide or its conspiracy," the bail plea said.

Former Haryana minister Gopal Goyal Kanda, who employed Chaddha and Geetika, is the prime accused in the case.

Geetika, 23, in her suicide notes accused Kanda and Chaddha of harassing her and forcing her to commit suicide. She died on the night of Aug 4-5 at her house in New Delhi.
Both Kanda and Chaddha have denied the allegations.

Charges of criminal intimidation and abetment to suicide were slapped on Kanda and Chaddha over the suicide.

The trial court Sep 7 rejected Chaddha's bail plea. She was arrested Aug 8 and has been in judicial custody since then.