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regular-article-logo Thursday, 09 May 2024

Khattar to recommend CBI probe in Sonali Phogat's death

Haryana chief minister meets deceased BJP leader's family on Saturday, takes on Twitter to make the announcement

Our Web Desk Published 27.08.22, 10:28 PM
Manohar Lal Khattar with the bereaved family in Chandigarh

Manohar Lal Khattar with the bereaved family in Chandigarh Twitter/@mlkhattar

The Haryana government will write to the Goa government requesting it to recommend a CBI probe into the death of BJP leader Sonali Phogat, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has assured her family members.

Family members of Phogat met Khattar at his residence here on Saturday evening and requested for a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into her death.

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Khattar assured the family that his government will write to the Goa government in this regard, according to an official statement.

During the meeting, the chief minister expressed grief over the sudden demise of Phogat.

"The government is firmly standing with the family in this sensitive time and the government will take every possible step to ensure justice in this case," he had said.

Phogat, 42, who found fame on TikTok, died under mysterious circumstances in Goa earlier this week.

Police have so far arrested Phogat's personal assistant Sagwan, another aide Sukhwinder Singh, owner of Curlies Restaurant Edwin Nunes and alleged drug peddler Dattaprasad Gaonkar.

While Singh and Sagwan have been charged with murder, Nunes and Gaonkar have been booked under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.

Meanwhile, Goa Police on Saturday arrested a restaurant owner and a drug peddler in connection with the alleged murder of Haryana-based BJP leader Sonali Phogat, taking the number of arrests in the case to four.

Dattaprasad Gaonkar, a peddler, had allegedly provided drugs to Phogat's two associates who fed them to her, police said.

Edwin Nunes, the other person arrested on Saturday, is the owner of the Curlies restaurant in North Goa district where Phogat and her associates partied and where she was allegedly drugged hours before her death.

A court in Goa on Saturday remanded two accused arrested in the murder case Phogat in police custody for ten days.

The accused duo - Sudhir Sagwan and Sukhwinder Singh - were produced before the court in Mapusa town by Anjuna police on Saturday, reports PTI.

A senior officer said the court remanded the duo in police custody for ten days.

Sagwan and Singh had accompanied Phogat, a popular TikTok star who hailed from Haryana to Goa on August 22.

Phogat, 42, was brought dead to St Anthony Hospital at Anjuna in North Goa district on August 23 morning from her hotel.

The police on Friday said Sagwan and Singh allegedly mixed some "obnoxious substance" in water and forced Phogat to drink it while partying at Curlies restaurant on the intervening night of August 22 and 23, adding they have been charged with murder.

On August 25, the Goa police arrested two persons and charged them with murder in connection with the death of Haryana-based Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sonali Phogat, an official said.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (Mapusa) Jivba Dalvi told PTI that both the accused have been arrested under murder charge.

BJP leader Sonali Phogat was fed some "obnoxious chemical" through her drinks by the two accused during a party at a North Goa restaurant which apparently caused her death, police said.

The motive behind her murder could be "economic interest", said a senior police official.

The incident took place at Curlies Restaurant at Anjuna in North Goa district on the intervening night of August 22 and 23, Inspector General of Police Omvir Singh Bishnoi said.

Sagwan and Singh confessed during questioning that they had intentionally mixed the substance in her drinks, he said.

The two men were seen taking Phogat to the washroom of the restaurant around 4.30 am on August 23 and the three of them were inside the washroom for two hours, he said.

Custodial interrogation will throw light on what happened during those two hours, Bishnoi added.

Two other women were also with the accused at the party and were seen cutting a cake, he said, adding that both were being questioned. Asked about the "multiple blunt force injuries" on her body mentioned in the post-mortem report, Bishnoi said as per the accused these could have been caused by abrasion while she was being taken to the hospital.

When she was taken to the hospital, there were no visible injuries, hence the doctors suspected that she died due to a heart attack, the IGP said.

"But Phogat seemed to have actually died due to the substance she was fed at the restaurant," he said.

Police will also record the statement of taxi drivers who ferried her from Curlies restaurant to the hotel where she was staying and later to the hospital, Bishnoi said.

More people were supposed to join Phogat and others from Mumbai, the police official said.

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