Sonali Phogat Murder Case: Goa Club Owner And Drug Dealer Among 4 Arrested By Police

The Goa police have arrested two more people in the politician Sonali Phogat’s murder case, a drug dealer and the owner of the restaurant and nightclub Phogat visited before her death. Phogat’s associates Sudhir Sangwan and Sukhwinder Singh had been arrested on August 25.

The late Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) Sonali Phogat was taken to the restaurant Curlies by her two associates Sudhir Sangwan and Sukhwinder Singh. The owner of the restaurant Edwin Nunes was questioned by the police and the police also recovered drugs from the bathroom of the club.

Curlies owner Nunes had confirmed that Phogat had come to the restaurant with others but said that his staff members did not know them and treated them like normal customers. The Anjuna police also detained drug dealer Dattaprasad Gaonkar who allegedly supplied narcotics to the accused Sukhwinder Singh.

The Anjuna Police has also registered a separate narcotics case against Sangwan, Singh, Nunes, and Gaonkar. Sangwan and Singh have been sent to 10-days police custody.

Sonali Phogat Murder Investigation

Phogat’s death was suspected to be caused by a heart attack but an autopsy report discovered “multiple blunt force injuries” on her body. Following the release of the autopsy report, the Goa police opened a murder investigation. In the report, Dr Sunal Shrikant Chimbolkar reserved the cause of death but revealed that Phogat had blunt force injuries on her body.

Phogat had complained about feeling uneasy and was taken to the hotel where they were staying. The next morning, she was brought dead to St Anthony Hospital in Anjuna, North Goa.

Phogat’s brother Rinku Dhaka filed a complaint against Sangwan and Singh at the Anjuna Police Station. Dhaka alleged in his complaint, “She (Phogat) said Sangwan had given her food laced with some intoxicant, raped her and made a video and was threatening to make the video viral on social media.”

The police reported that CCTV recordings found that Sangwan forced Phogat to drink a substance in a water bottle. Sangwan and Singh confessed that they intentionally mixed obnoxious chemicals into a liquid and forced her to consume it

The two accused Sangwan and Singh were arrested on Thursday so that they could not destroy any evidence.

Suggested Reading: BJP Politician Sonali Phogat Was Forced To Consume Drug At Goa Nightclub: Report