I feel that she was so scared of him. But I cannot figure out what she feared so much, that she thought it wound end only if she ends her life, says the younger brother of Geetika Sharma, who has still not come in terms with the loss of his closest friend, his sister.
A former air-hostess with the erstwhile MDLR airlines, 23-year old Geetika Sharma presumably committed suicide, and was found dead on Sunday morning by her parents. Her younger brother Ankit rushed from Mumbai.
White walls and no fancy construction, the Delhi Development Authority colony at Ashok Vihar is an average-looking housing society. Geetika stayed here with her parents.
At 18, she joined MDLR airlines, owned by Gopal Kanda, the former home minister of Haryana. She was to work here for the next two-and-a-half years, on flights and later as ground staff when the operations of the airlines were halted. The family claims to have no contact with the Kandas during this period.
The neighbours though speak of her early success at the job. "It wasn't a regular 9am to 5pm job. She used to travel to abroad, and sometimes got delayed in coming back if there was no return flight," says a neighbour.
"In all her spare time, she used to talk to me," Ankit emphasises.
"She had been telling me since the past few months, that I should be careful and cautious. She said a couple of times that Kanda is not a good man, and he is very powerful. She would say: 'You cannot even imagine what he can do," Ankit musters to say, visibly unable to comprehend why his sister would take such an extreme step.
"She was so anti-suicides," he grasps. "We used to often watch Crime Patrol (a popular crime serial) and dismiss it when somebody committed suicide. We both agreed that one should fight back."
The night before she hung herself, Geetika got a call from Gopal Kanda. "And she was very upset with that call," recalls Ankit. Geetika had also spoken with her brother but did not tell him what bothered her.
"I asked her to come on Skype and talk if anything was troubling her. If I had any inkling that she would do something like this, I would not have left her alone, not even for a moment."
The family says they first met Gopal Kanda and his family when he came to their house after Geetika's return from her job at Emirates Airlines. The family claims that after they found out that he had fudged papers that cost Geetika her job, they decided that they would snap all ties with him.
"He was a very powerful man. What could we do then? We just thought that we would cut all ties. But then he (Gopal Kanda) came to our house and begged to forgive. How can you not trust a man who comes with his family and asks for forgiveness?" Ankit explains.
He says that Geetika too believed that Gopal Kanda was a good man.
"I think she didn't realise in the beginning what kind of a person Gopal Kanda was," Ankit argues. "I feel she didn't realise what she was being led to."
A bright student at school, the family refuses to believe that she was an impulsive person, or could take her own life acting on an impulse. "How can somebody who meditates and goes for morning walks be so impulsive?" asks her brother.
"Geetika used to spend her birthday with orphans, gave them gifts every month from her salary, and used to ask me to do the same. She was calm and sane. We don't know what drove her to it," Ankit explains.
The family says that they have handed evidence, offer letters and all papers they had to support their case that Geetika was being harassed by Gopal Kanda.
"She was frightened of him. I feel he pressurised her so much, it is like a silent murder," Ankit says.