Goa police on Thursday arrested two aides of Haryana BJP leader Sonali Phogat for their alleged involvement in her murder after an autopsy revealed that her body bore "multiple blunt force injuries." Phogat, 42, was initially suspected to have died. due to a heart attack in Goa on August 23.
Phogat's personal assistant Sudhir Sangwan and his friend Sukhwinder Wasi were arrested late in the evening after hours of questioning.
Sangwan and Wasi, who accompanied Phogat when she arrived in Goa on August 22, were earlier named as accused in the murder case on the complaint of her brother Rinku Dhaka. Rinku filed a complaint with the Goa police alleging that his sister was raped and murdered by his personal assistant and his boyfriend.
BJP's Sonali Phogat was forcefully drugged by personal assistant, his friend: Police
Earlier on Thursday, the family members of Sonali Phogat gave their consent for the autopsy on the condition that the procedure be captured on video.
In a case related to the murder of BJP leader Sonali Phogat, Goa police chief IGP Omvir Singh Bishnoi said her personal assistant Sudhir Sangwan and his associate Sukhwinder Singh had confessed to deliberately mixing a noxious chemical in the liquid and making her drink it.
In a press conference, IGP Omvir Singh said that “The video proves that one of the accused forcefully forced her to consume the substance. When confronted, accused Sukhwinder Singh and Sudhir Sangwan admitted that they had deliberately mixed the noxious chemical in the liquid and made her drink it. ."
IGP Singh added that both the accused have been arrested and will be sent with a team to different places to collect more evidence.
A police official confirmed Sonali's death on August 23 morning and said, "She was staying at a hotel in Anjuna (North Goa). She was brought dead to the hospital this morning. We are forming a panel of doctors and will do more preliminary examination and other things."
As Sonali's sister ruled out the possibility of a heart attack and demanded a CBI probe into the matter, the police asked the family's consent for an autopsy.
Sonali Phogat - who hailed from Haryana - had contested the previous Haryana Assembly elections from Adampur constituency on a BJP ticket against Kuldeep Bishnoi. She also appeared in the reality show 'Bigg Boss' in 2020. She rose to fame with her TikTok videos which had a huge following.
