Court charges Gopal Kanda with raping former air hostess Geetika Sharma

NEW DELHI: Former Haryana Minister Gopal Goyal Kanda will face charges of rape and abetment of suicide after a Delhi court today put him on trial in air hostess Geetika Sharma's suicide case.

The court also framed charges of abeting rape and suicide of the 23-year-old victim against Kanda's aide and an employee of MDLR company, Aruna Chadha.

District Judge S K Sarvaria framed charges of criminal conspiracy, forgery under IPC and Information Technology Act relating to hacking of computer and sending offensive or false messages on Kanda and Chadha.

"Prima facie charges under sections 306 (abetment of suicide), 120 B (criminal conspiracy), 468 (forgery with intention to cheat), 469 (forgery with intention to harm reputation) and 471 (using forged documents as genuine) are made out against Gopal Kanda and Aruna Chadha.

"Further, prima facie charges under sections 376 (rape) and 377 (unnatural sex) are made out against Kanda and charge under section 376 read with 109 (abetment to rape) is made out against Chadha," the judge said.