Sonali Phogat, 42, was brought to the hospital dead on the morning of 23 August.
Panaji:
Police cited security camera footage and alleged confessions that actress and BJP leader Sonali Phogat was forcibly thrown into water by two of her associates while partying at a restaurant-cum-nightclub in Goa. She was then “feeling restless” and could barely walk before her colleagues took her to the hotel where they were all staying. The next morning he was brought dead to the hospital.
police said that Sudhir Sangwan and Sukhwinder SinghTwo associates accused of killing Bigg Boss contestant Sonali Phogat were arrested last evening for not destroying evidence.
“The investigating officer examined the CCTV recording of the premises concerned and found that Sudhir was forcing Sonali to drink the alleged liquid in a water bottle,” the police statement said. He was seen holding her while showing her the way out of the restaurant before leaving for the hotel.
The alleged spiking happened when 42-year-old Sonali Phogat was with two men at a popular party joint called Curlies Restaurant last Monday night. From there he went to Hotel Grand Leoni.
When he was brought dead the next morning at St. Anthony’s Hospital in Anjuna, North Goa, it was initially seen to be a case of a heart attack. But his family found something wrong and demanded a full investigation.
Even after the intervention of Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, the police eventually registered a murder case and, his postmortem report Yesterday, it was revealed that “there are several blunt force injuries on the body”. The report said that the police needed to investigate the cause of death.
Police today said it would take some time to ascertain the cause only after chemical test of viscera and other tests.
Haryana Chief Minister Khattar had said yesterday that as per the demand of the family, the viscera test would be done at a government hospital in Chandigarh as well as in Goa.
He also said that he is open to Handing over the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation,
The family has also alleged rape, but police in Goa are yet to press those charges, pending further investigation.
His brother, Rinku Dhaka, states that the killers intended “to seize his wealth and financial assets and to destroy his political career”.
Sonali Phogat had contested the 2019 assembly elections with BJP since 2008, but lost. Her husband Sanjay Phogat, who died six years ago, was active in social and political circles. He has a teenage daughter.