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Will interrogate them, says Goa DGP on Sonali Phogat’s manager after post-mortem
Sonali Phogat’s family, which had furiously countered the initial Goa police view that there was no foul play in the death of the 41-year-old, also pointed a finger at her manager Sudhir Sangwan and his associate
PANAJI: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and actor Sonali Phogat, who was believed to have died due to a heart attack in Goa, had multiple blunt force injuries on her body, the post-mortem report said, leading the Goa Police to finally register a murder case.
Goa director general of police Jaspal Singh said the murder case has been registered but rebutted reports that Phogat’s manager Sudhir Sangwan and an associate, Sukhwinder Singh, were arrested. “We will interrogate them. But I can confirm that no arrests have been made so far,” Singh told HT.
Sonali Phogat’s family, which had countered the initial police view that there was no foul play in the death of the 41-year-old, also spoke of suspicions that Sudhir Sangwan and Sukhwinder Singh may have a role in Sonali’s murder.
Sonali’s brother Rinku Dhaka who arrived in Goa hours after her death on Wednesday filed a police complaint with the Anjuna police alleging she was killed and refused to allow the body’s post-morten unless a murder case was first registered.
The family eventually relented to the post-mortem at Goa medical college and hospital on Thursday.
“We are awaiting the completion of formalities before we decide further steps,” Dhaka told reporters.
The preliminary report was issued hours later. Two doctors, Shrikant Chimbilkar and Mandar Kantak, who conducted the autopsy said in their interim report: “The cause of death to the best of my knowledge and belief is reserved pending chemical analysis, histopathology and serological reports of the tissues preserved. However, there are multiple blunt force injuries over the body. In view of the above, the manner of death is for the investigating officer to ascertain”.
Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant said the police had a free hand to probe the case.
“I have told the director general of police that he has full freedom to investigate the case. I had said (that it was heart attack) based on the preliminary report. The DGP has the full freedom to treat the case as per the information that emerges,” Sawant said.
A police officer said the murder case was based on the complaint filed by her brother. “The investigation is underway,” the officer said.
Dhaka had alleged that his sister’s death was a pre-planned murder.
“I have done some inquiries on my own after arriving in the state on Tuesday evening. It is not a normal death. It is a preplanned murder. I believe that it is Sudhir Sangwan (Phogat’s manager) and one Sukhwinder Singh. They have been planning this for many days. On the day the murder took place she had spoken to her mother, her sister, to me and others and from those conversations, we are very sure that she was in trouble and that anything could happen to her at any time. We had asked her to stay away from them and we will file a police complaint the next day. But she passed away at night,” Dhaka alleged.
