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Sonali Phogat death: Goa police arrest alleged drug peddler, night club owner
The alleged drug peddler has been accused of supplying the synthetic drugs that were allegedly administered to Sonali Phogat the night she died while the other arrested person is the owner of the beach nightclub where she spent her final hours
The Goa police on Saturday arrested an alleged drug peddler and a beach night club owner in connection with the death of Haryana-based Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and actor Sonali Phogat, officials said.
The alleged drug peddler, Dattaprasad Gaonkar, has been accused of supplying the synthetic drugs that were allegedly administered to Phogat the night she died while the other arrested person, Edwin Nunes, is the owner of Curlies, the beach nightclub where she spent her final hours.
The police have also sealed the upper floor of Curlies in a bid to prevent tampering of the crime scene as they investigate the case.
On Saturday, the judicial magistrate first class remanded Phogat’s manager, Sudhir Sangwan and his associate, Sukhwider Singh to 10 days police custody as against the 14 days sought by the police.
The Anjuna police, who booked Sangwan and Singh for the murder of Sonali Phogat, have also subsequently added Section 328 (Causing hurt by means of poison) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) besides other sections concerning conspiracy with regard to Phogat’s death. The police have also included sections under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act in addition to the sections already included.
The police sought lengthy custody telling the court that they needed custodial interrogation of the accused to ascertain the possible involvement of other persons in the crime.
Phogat, a former TikTok star and contestant on the reality show Big Boss, was brought dead to the St Anthony Hospital in Anjuna in north Goa district on August 23 morning, a day after her arrival in the coastal state. She and her team were in Goa to reportedly produce a video and were to be joined by another group from Mumbai. It was earlier suspected that she died of a heart attack. However, on Thursday, a murder case was registered based on the complaint lodged by Phogat’s brother.
The police reviewed the security camera footage taken from the Curlies Club and they saw Sangwan and Singh forcibly administering an “obnoxious chemical” that was mixed in a drink to her, leading to the arrest of the duo.
“The accused Sudhir Sangwan and associate Sukhwinder Singh were partying in the club along with the deceased and from the video it is seen that one of the accused is forcefully making the deceased drink some substance,” inspector general of police, Omvir Singh Bishnoi said.
“When they were confronted with this, Sudhir Sangwan and Sukhwinder confessed that they had intentionally given the accused some obnoxious chemical after which the victim wasn’t herself and needed to be taken care of. At around 4.30pm when she could no longer hold it together, the victim was taken to the bathroom,” Bishnoi added.
To be sure, a confession or disclosure statement of any person made before a police officer is not admissible as evidence before a court unless it is backed by other evidence. Only a confession before a judge is admissible as evidence against an accused.
Phogat spent two hours in the washroom of the club after which she was taken back to the hotel in a taxi where she succumbed. She was rushed to the St Anthony’s Hospital, a private hospital in Anjuna where she was declared as having succumbed to a probable heart attack.
Police said that no sooner they received information about the death of Sonali Phogat, the police quickly began an investigation into the case as an unnatural death and based on the complaint filed by her brother, a murder case was registered. Her brother also alleged that she was being harassed by Sangwan and Singh for a long time.
“At the moment we do not have any evidence whether this was a case of long running harassment. But behind every crime there always is likely to be some economic interest and I feel that in this crime too there may be some economic interest,” the IG added.
