Chandigarh: The destiny of Sirsa MLA and Haryana Lokhit Get together (HLP) chief Gopal Kanda hangs within the stability with a Delhi court docket set to ship its verdict Tuesday within the Geetika Sharma abetment to suicide case through which he’s the primary accused.
A former air hostess with Kanda’s now-defunct MLDR airways, Sharma was discovered useless on 5 August, 2012 at her residence in Delhi. She left a suicide be aware accusing Gopal Kanda of harassing and ‘misusing’ her with the lively help of his HR Supervisor Aruna Chadha.
On the time of his arrest in reference to the case in 2012, Kanda was a minister within the then Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led Congress authorities in Haryana. He was additionally booked for rape, however that cost in opposition to him was dropped by the Delhi Excessive Courtroom in 2013.
Six months after Geetika’s dying, her mom Anuradha Sharma died by suicide on February 16, 2013, abandoning a suicide be aware accusing Kanda and Chadha of forcing her daughter to take the intense step.
Lower to 2023 and Kanda’s title resurfaced earlier this month when his occasion, the Haryana Lokhit Get together (HLP), discovered point out within the checklist of 38 events recognized as constituents of the Bharatiya Janata Get together-led Nationwide Democratic Alliance (NDA). The checklist was shared with the media by the BJP forward of a gathering of NDA allies held in New Delhi on 18 July. However neither Kanda nor any of his occasion functionaries had been seen participating within the assembly.
His youthful brother Gobind Kanda advised ThePrint that their occasion is a part of the NDA however he couldn’t attend the assembly as a result of he had some vital work to take care of.
ThePrint reached Gopal Kanda for remark however calls to him went unanswered. This report might be up to date when a response is acquired.
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Political journey
Born in December 1965, Gopal Kanda and his youthful brother Gobind began off with small companies — a radio restore outlet and a shoe retailer — in Haryana’s Sirsa earlier than the older brother determined to maneuver to Gurugram to attempt his luck in the actual property sector.
Inside a number of years, he scripted a rags-to-riches story. Locals in Sirsa knew him as a businessman who made a giant fortune in actual property. He was additionally seen as somebody near the Chautalas when the Indian Nationwide Lok Dal (INLD) was in energy within the state.
In his heyday, Tara Baba ashram, a personal spiritual place within the title of Kandas’ household guru, was a taking place handle. The Kandas used to ask movie stars and singers corresponding to Hema Malini and Narender Chanchal to the ashram throughout its annual capabilities.
As soon as the INLD was out of energy in 2005, Kanda started distancing himself from the Chautala clan. Months earlier than the October 2009 meeting election, he introduced that he would contest the polls from Sirsa. He gained as an Impartial, defeating INLD’s Padam Jain and went on to change into a junior minister within the Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led cupboard.
However his fortune nosedived after he bought embroiled within the Geetika Sharma case. He was made to resign from the council of ministers following his arrest in reference to the case and was was granted bail solely in September 2013 after spending 13 months in jail.
On Might 2, 2014, simply earlier than the parliamentary elections, Kanda launched HLP and was seen attempting to cozy up with the BJP, citing his father Murli Dhar Kanda’s connections with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). He had claimed then that his father as soon as contested from an meeting seat in Sirsa (in undivided Punjab) on a Jana Sangh ticket.
Within the 2014 meeting elections later that yr, Kanda misplaced narrowly in Sirsa to INLD’s Makhan Lal Singla by a margin of two,938 votes.
He did, nonetheless, win in Sirsa within the 2019 meeting polls and immediately provided help to the BJP that fell in need of the bulk mark by six — having gained 40 seats within the 90-member meeting. His youthful brother Gobind Kanda, although he misplaced to INLD’s Ram Chand Kamboj in Rania, relegated Ranjit Singh Chautala of the Congress to the third place.
Simply when Kanda’s supporters had been hoping that he can be inducted as a minister, former Union minister Uma Bharti in a sequence of tweets criticised him for his alleged involvement within the Geetika Sharma suicide case. Dealing with criticism, the BJP rejected his supply of help and aligned with Dushyant Chautala’s Jannayak Janata Get together (JJP) to kind the federal government.
The BJP quickly realized the significance of the Kanda brothers, and each the BJP and the JJP fielded Gobind Kanda as their joint candidate within the Ellenabad meeting bypoll in November 2021. However the youthful Kanda brother misplaced to Abhay Singh Chautala of the INLD.
However the ballot setback, the presence of HLP within the checklist of NDA constituents means that the Kandas are nonetheless related in Haryana politics.
In June this yr, Gopal Kanda and his youthful brother was seen making preparations for Union House Minister Amit Shah’s 18 June rally in Sirsa. Gopal Kanda, nonetheless, reportedly left the venue earlier than Shah’s arrival.
Of their 2019 ballot affidavits, Gopal and Gobind Kanda had acknowledged their web value at Rs 95 crore and Rs 65 crore, respectively. Gopal Kanda had additionally talked about that he was then dealing with 9 legal instances, together with two the place he stood accused of abetment to suicide.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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