INDIA. Goa: Two more people, including the owner of a Goa restaurant where she was seen partying the night before her death, have been arrested in the murder case of actor and BJP leader Sonali Phogat.
The fourth arrest was that of a drug dealer, police said. This takes the total number of arrests in the Haryana BJP leader’s death case to four, including her two associates, Sudhir Sangwan and Sukhwinder Singh.
Phogat was at the famous Curlie’s restaurant-cum-night club in Anjuna Beach on Monday, where Sangwan and Singh forcefully forced her to drink “some noxious substance” mixed in water, police said yesterday, citing security camera footage and alleged confessions.
She was “unwell” and barely able to walk on her own after drinking, and co-workers drove her to a hotel, police said. The BJP leader was taken to hospital the next morning where she was declared brought dead.
Sangwan and Singh were arrested on Thursday evening to prevent them from destroying evidence, police said.
Security camera footage from a restaurant in Goa has emerged showing her staggering while unable to walk on her own. She is assisted by Sudhir Sangwan, one of her two associates arrested in the case.
The other, Sukhwinder Singh, was with them as they left a popular party spot, Curlie’s Restaurant, at Anjuna Beach for their hotel on Monday evening. The next morning she was brought dead to St Anthony’s Hospital.
Police also said they have footage showing how Sudhir Sangwan forced Sonali Phogat to drink water that contained “some unpleasant substances”. Co-workers took her to the Grand Leonny Hotel, where they were all staying before she died.
When she was brought dead to a hospital in Anjuna, North Goa, the next morning, it was initially thought to be a case of a heart attack. However, her family felt something was wrong and demanded a thorough examination.
After Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar also intervened, the police registered a case of murder. In her post-mortem report on Thursday, it was revealed that “there are numerous blunt force injuries on the body”. The report said police must investigate the cause of death.
Also Read: Sonali Phogat’s Autopsy Report Says “Multiple Blunt Force Injuries on Body”
