Former Haryana minister Gopal Goyal Kanda was on Saturday further remanded to three-day police custody by a city court after the prosecution complained about his evasive and uncooperative response to queries aimed at recovering the missing mobile phones and hard disk of his computer.
The Delhi police had sought further custodial interrogation of Mr Kanda for a week stating that investigation is still pending and the mobile phones and hard disc were still to be recovered to verify allegations of Geetika’s harassment.
The police told the court that it has still not been able to trace Geetika’s phones which she had surrendered after quitting MDLR Group. Besides, the police is also looking for the complete booklet of Mr Kanda’s passport to ascertain if he went to Dubai to force Geetika to return and rejoin his firm.
Public prosecutor Rajiv Mohan told additional chief metropolitan magistrate D.K. Jangala that new names and information have surfaced during probe and three mobiles phones issued in Geetika’s name are missing and that the hard disc of Mr Kanda’s computer was removed.
“The mobile phones cannot be found and from the investigation point of view, his mobile phones are very important. It is a vital piece of evidence. He is scared that something might be retrieved out of it due to which his replies on the missing items have been evasive. This has been giving tough time to the investigators,” the public prosecutor said,
Accusing Mr Kanda of non-cooperation, the prosecutor said that he was not providing them the complete booklet of his passport.
Senior advocate Ramesh Gupta vehemently opposed the demand for further police custody. He claimed that many senior officials, including the deputy commissioner of police, are questioning his client.
“In police custody they are asking obnoxious questions from me. I have been grilled by DCP, ACP, SHO and other officials but nobody except the IO can question me,” said Mr Kanda.
Countering the police allegation of Mr Kanda’s non-cooperation, his counsel said that the Sirsa MLA has a right to be silent and he cannot be forced to give evidence.
“I (Kanda) have a right of silence. How can they force me to give evidence. This is violation of my fundamental right,” he said.
Earlier, Mr Kanda claimed innocence and said he was a victim of a conspiracy.
“Some politicians are doing this to malign me. They are misguiding media. Truth will come out,” Mr Kanda told reporters before being taken to court.