Sonali Phogat case: Accused applies for bail; hearing on January 20

The BJP leader was brought dead to the St Anthony’s Hospital at Anjuna in the wee hours of August 23 after she spent the previous night at Curlies’ beach shack

Sukhwinder Singh, one of the two accused in the alleged murder of actor and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sonali Phogat has filed for bail which will be heard on January 20.

The CBI took over the probe from the Goa Police in early September last year. (File image)

When the matter came up for hearing on Tuesday, the counsel for the applicant advocate Surendra Desai said they have sought for a copy of CBI’s reply which prompted the matter to be adjourned to the following week.

“Accused No. 2 has filed for a bail application praying for his release on bail. That bail application was fixed today for arguments, but the matter could not be argued today because they (the CBI) didn’t give us in advance a copy of the reply opposing the bail. So, we said we have to read the reply then argue. The matter is now fixed for arguments on January 20 at 2:30pm,” Desai said.

Singh, who is a co-accused in the case along with Sudhir Sangvan, are facing charges of murder under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) by the CBI which took over the case from Goa Police and filed a chargesheet.

According to the CBI chargesheet, Sudhir P Sangvan and Sukhvinder Singh have been charged under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (murder) read with section 34 (common intention) and 36 [effect (in this case death) caused partly by act and partly by omission].

Meanwhile, the brother of Phogat has filed an intervention application, which has been allowed after the applicant said they would have no objection to the intervention application.

“Possibly he wants to object to the grant of bail as is the settled law, we have given no objection for this intervention. So, the court has passed an order allowing him to intervene,” Desai said.

The CBI took over the probe from the Goa Police in early September after the Goa government acceded to demands from her family and wrote to the union government seeking that the case be transferred over to the CBI.

The BJP leader was brought dead to the St Anthony’s Hospital at Anjuna in the wee hours of August 23 after she spent the previous night at Curlies’ beach shack, a beachfront nightclub, where she was allegedly drugged with methamphetamine (MDMA) by Sudhir and Sukhwinder, the two persons who accompanied her to the club.