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A few years ago, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) wanted former Haryana minister Gopal Kanda, arrested for abetting suicide of an air hostess Geetika Sharma. Cut to 2019, they wanted his help to form government in the state after falling short of the majority mark by six seats.
Kanda, along with five other Independents, has emerged as the kingmaker after the Haryana polls resulted in a hung Assembly.
Kanda, the lone MLA of the Haryana Lokhit Party, which he founded with his brother Govind Kanda in May 2014, won from the Sirsa seat. He was among the MLAs who were taken to Delhi by a chartered plane by Sirsa MP Sunita Duggal on Thursday evening for a meeting with the party’s leadership.
Soon, Twitter users shared an old photo of Delhi BJP workers demanding Kanda’s arrest and “justice for Geetika,” pointing out the BJP’s “double-face.”
Here is all you need to know about Kanda:
Kanda Accused in Two Abetment to Suicide Cases
Kanda was accused of abetting suicide of a young air hostess who worked for his aviation company in 2012. He was arrested on charges of rape, abetment to suicide, criminal conspiracy and criminal intimidation.
Twenty-three-year-old Geetika Sharma had allegedly taken her life on 5 August 2012 at her Ashok Vihar residence in New Delhi. She alleged, in her suicide note, that Kanda and his employee Aruna Chaddha were harassing her to rejoin the former minister’s firm.
Kanda denied all allegations and remained underground for 10 days after her suicide before he surrendered. In August 2012, BJP’s Smriti Irani directed the Haryana unit of Mahila Morcha to launch a drive to inform people about Kanda's "real face."
After six months, Geetika's mother killed herself too and blamed Kanda and his aide of abetting her daughter's suicide.
Kanda remained in jail for one-and-a-half years and was granted bail in March 2014 after the Delhi High Court dropped charges of rape against him.
On 6 September 2013, while out on interim bail, Kanda entered the ongoing session in Haryana Assembly amid uproar and expulsion of Opposition INLD, BJP and HJC members after a CD allegedly showed a Congress parliamentary secretary fixing a land deal.
On his way out after the expulsion, BJP MP Anil Vij, who is now a Haryana minister, reportedly took a dig at Kanda, who was mutely seated in the Assembly, and asked the then Congress government, “Why don’t you expel him?”
In the air hostess’s suicide case, Kanda continues to face trial while in the mother’s suicide case, the Delhi Police filed a cancellations report in court this March. The court, however, rejected the cancellation report and asked action to be taken against the investigating officer.
Political Trysts
In 2014, Kanda fought the Assembly election by fielding 75 candidates from his own outfit – the Haryana Lokhit Party (HLP). All the candidates, including Kanda himself, were defeated with all but two losing their deposits as well.
Kanda's first tryst with politics was as a "strongman" aide of the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) leader Ajay Chautala, but he was not given a ticket in the 2009 Assembly elections.
He fought the election as an Independent and won against the INLD candidate by a margin of 6,521 votes. He then extended support to the Hooda-led Congress government, which had come to power for a second-term.
Kanda’s Business Pursuits
Kanda, who was born in December 1965, dropped out of school before completing Class 10. In 2005, he set up 'MLDR Airlines' and went on to start a company called Golden Globe Hotels Pvt Ltd that ran hotels and malls in Gurugram. MLDR, however, shut operations in 2012.
Abetment to suicide is not the only criminal charge Kanda has faced in the past. He and his wife were also accused of evading income tax worth Rs 40 crore. However, they were let off in the case in 2012.
In September 2018, the Economic Offenses Wing of Delhi Police booked Kanda in a cheating case involving one of the many companies he was associated with. The case is still under investigation.
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