New Delhi, August 11
Three days after former Haryana minister Gopal Kanda was declared as an absconder in the Geetika Sharma suicide case, the police in Delhi as well as in Haryana remains clueless about his whereabouts, sparking speculation that the controversial MLA may be hiding under protection.

The Delhi police has formed seven teams to trace him and has raided Kanda’s premises in Sirsa and Gurgaon. Police teams have gone as far as Mumbai and Goa on the trail of the MLA, accused of abetting Geetika’s suicide.

On Friday, the Sirsa MLA‘s brother Govind refuted charges that his brother had fled the country and said the MLA would surrender at the Rohini Courts in Delhi on Monday. A Delhi police officer said: “Kanda is hiding in some remote location. Someone is probably providing him shelter. We have not issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against him, because it will only be filed when he cannot be traced.” The officer indicated that Kanda would remain underground at least until Monday, when he will file an application seeking anticipatory bail in the Delhi High Court.

When asked why Kanda has not been arrested, the police officer said the police cannot arrest a person on the day the FIR is registered. “We need to confirm the facts of the FIR. Since he is a senior government functionary, we need to be careful, as we have to collect facts. However, we never expected him to abscond, because he was giving interviews to the media and was accessible,” said the officer.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (North West District), Dr P. Karunakaran denied that the police was under political pressure. “There is no such thing. We have sent our teams to Sirsa, Goa, Mumbai and Mohali and Chandigarh in Punjab to look for him.”

On Friday, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda when asked about allegations that the Haryana Police and the state government were not cooperating with the Delhi police, Hooda said, “Law will take its own course,” and that Kanda should join the probe.

However, former Delhi Police Commissioner, Ajai Raj Sharma, told The Tribune that it was possible that police could be under political pressure. “The police will always be hesitant in arresting a person like Kanda. Kanda could have left the country and fled to Nepal,” said the former police commissioner.