Indian police have arrested the personal aide of Sonali Phogat, a Bharatiya Janata Party member, and his friend after her body was found in a hotel room in Goa.
Aide’s friend also detained after postmortem in Goa showed signs of blunt-force injuries
Phogat, 43, from Haryana, arrived in the resort state with her personal assistant Sudhir Sangwan and his friend Sukhwinder Wasi on Monday.
But the next day, she was pronounced dead at St Anthony Hospital in Anjuna village.
Police initially believed that Phogat had died of a heart attack but arrested Mr Sangwan and Mr Wasi after a postmortem report released on Thursday said that she had suffered several blunt-force injuries.
After examining security camera footage from the beach restaurant Curlie’s in Anjuna, where Phogat was last seen alive, police said on Friday that the two men had spiked her drink with “some obnoxious substance”.
The footage also showed Phogat in a giddy state as Mr Sangwan helped her leave the restaurant on Monday night.
“From the CCTV footage procured from the Curlie’s club, it can be seen that Sudhir Sangwan and Sukhwinder are partying with the deceased, and in one video, one of the accused is forcibly giving a drink of water with some substance,” Omvir Singh, a senior police officer, said.
“The two men have confessed.”
The actual cause of death has yet to be established as some chemical analysis reports from the postmortem are pending.
Phogat was popular on social media and had a large following on TikTok. She rose to fame after her television acting debut in 2016 and also participated in a popular show hosted by Bollywood star Salman Khan in 2020.
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She ran as a member of the BJP in elections to the Haryana state legislature in 2019 but lost to a Congress Party candidate.
Phogat’s brother, Rinku Dhaka, told local media he suspected foul play and accused her two companions of involvement in her death, saying they had taken her to Goa on the pretext of a film shoot.
“Sudhir Sagwan told us that film shooting was there on August 24. But hotel rooms were booked only for two days, on August 22 and 23,” he said.
Mr Dhaka also alleged that Mr Sangwan had raped Phogat three years ago and had been blackmailing her with an explicit video.
There have been no public comments from either Mr Sangwan or Mr Wasi, or their lawyers
BJP leader Manohar Lal Khattar, head of the Haryana state government, expressed his condolences over Phogat’s death and called for an investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation.
It was earlier reported that, Phogat (42), the BJP leader from Haryana who had found fame on Tik Tok, was “brought dead” at the St Anthony Hospital at Anjuna in North Goa on Monday evening.
Actor and BJP leader Sonali Phogat died after a cardiac arrest on August 22 night. She was in Goa along with her staff members when she breathed her last. The postmortem of her mortal remains was conducted at the Goa Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) on Wednesday to ascertain the exact cause of her death, an official said.
Speaking on her demise Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said, “We’re taking it seriously. The DGP himself is monitoring the situation. Investigation and postmortem reports will come to him. Preliminary report, as per doctors and DGP, suggest her death was caused by cardiac arrest.”
Phogat (42), the BJP leader from Haryana who had found fame on Tik Tok, was “brought dead” at the St Anthony Hospital at Anjuna in North Goa on Monday evening, a police official earlier said, adding that she died of a suspected heart attack. However, her family suspected foul play and demanded a probe.
A senior GMCH official said a panel of two experts – Dr Sunil Chimulkar and Dr Sheryl Soares – from the hospital’s forensic science medicine department will conduct the autopsy. According to reports, her post mortem will be video graphed and her viscera will be sent for a forensic analysis.
The Anjuna police have registered a case of unnatural death.
Deputy Superintendent of Police Jivba Dalvi said Phogat had arrived in Goa on August 22 and was staying in a hotel in Anjuna area. She was brought to the hospital from the hotel around 9 am on Tuesday, he said.
Singh said there is no foul play in the case, even as Phogat’s family questioned the circumstances of her death and opposition parties in Haryana demanded a CBI probe. There are no external injury marks on the body, the DGP said.
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