NBW out against Kanda

Brother moves HC; a relative,four employees detained

Even as one of his relatives was taken in custody and another moved the high court alleging harassment,a Delhi court on Thursday issued a non bailable warrant against former Haryana minister Gopal Goyal Kanda in connection with former air hostess Geetika Sharmas suicide.

Failing to arrest Kanda despite a massive manhunt,the police sought a NBW. The court asked the police to file a case on August 24.

Co-accused Aruna Chadha was remanded in judicial custody for 14 days.

The police believe Kanda may surrender soon. We are expecting Kanda to surrender soon. Since Aruna is in judicial custody,he will be interrogated alone. Raids are being conducted in Sirsa, said a police officer.

Alleging that the police were harassing,humiliating and terrorising him,his family and employees,Kandas brother Govind moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court Thursday. Govind,alleged that the Delhi Police was illegally picking up his family members from their homes in Haryana at odd hours and then illegally detaining them. Rahi contended that the police were illegally conducting raids and searches at his residence without following the due process of law. Taking cognisance,Justice Nawab Singh issued notices to the Delhi and Haryana Police. The respondents have been asked to file their responses by September 25.

The Delhi Police on Thursday took in custody a relative of Kanda,Bunty Bansal,a resident of Sirsa who had exchanged a few phone calls purportedly with Kanda in the last 24 hours. The police raided Buntys residence and questioned him for an hour before detaining and taking him to Delhi.

Sources in the Haryana Police said that Bansal is considered to be close to both Gopal and Gobind Kanda. Bansal,who is Gopals sister-in-laws brother-in-law,is a junior engineer posted with the Haryana Panchayati Raj department.

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At least three phone calls were exchanged between Buntys Tata Indicom cellphone number and another number,suspected to have been used by Kanda,on Wednesday. The police suspect that Bunty is aware of Kandas possible hideout, said a police officer.

According to sources,a woman relative of Kanda,who is based in Nepal,has also allegedly exchanged a few phone calls with him.

Deputy Commissioner of Police P Karunakaran said: Kanda has a lot of contacts. We will take action against all those who have helped him evade arrest.

The police have also detained four employees of MDLR who had allegedly removed hard disks from the office computers.