Two accused confess: Sonali Phogat forcibly drugged before she died

Late BJP leader and actor Sonali Phogat was forcibly drugged at a party by her two associates who are now arrested after being named as accused in the case related to her death, Goa Police said on Friday.

“On the basis of CCTV footage, it was seen that the accused Sudhir Sangwan and his associate Sukhwinder Singh were partying with the deceased at a club. A video establishes that one of them forcefully made the victim consume a substance,” Inspector General of Police Omvir Singh Bishnoi said.

The accused Sudhir Sagwan and Sukhwinder Singh had travelled to Goa along with Phogat on 22 August.

“When confronted, Sukhwinder and Sudhir confessed that they intentionally mixed an obnoxious chemical into a liquid and made the victim drink it,” IGP Bishnoi said.

The two accused, Sudhir Sangwan and Sukhwinder Singh, have been arrested and further investigations are on, the Goa Police said.

Earlier, Sonali’s brother Rinku Dhaka had filed a complaint alleging that his sister was murdered by Sudhir Sangwan, her personal trainer along with Sukhwinder Singh who intended “to take over her properties and financial assets to finish her political career. “

The drugging incident happened at Curlies Restaurant at Anjuna in North Goa, according to the confession by the accused. The two accused confessed that after they intentionally mixed an obnoxious chemical into a liquid and made the victim drink it, which made her feel uneasy, after which they took her to the hotel and then to St. Anthony’s Hospital, where she was declared brought dead,” the Goa police said.

The police also said that the CCTV footage confirmed that the victim was forcibly given the substance. But the exact cause of her death will be confirmed only after by experts from the forensic science laboratory.

Dhaka alleged that “Phogat’s PA raped her after adding drugs to her meals”. He also claimed that the actor had no plans to visit Goa and she was brought there as per a conspiracy. “She had no plan to come to Goa. She was brought as per a pre-planned conspiracy. There was no movie shoot. Two rooms in the hotel had been booked only for two days. Film shooting was supposed to happen on August 24 but rooms were only booked for August 21-22,” Dhaka said.

Meanwhile, Sonali’s last rites were conducted on Friday at Hisar in Haryana.The actor, who rose to fame with her TikTok videos, contested the 2019 Haryana election as a BJP candidate but lost to then Congress leader Kuldeep Bishnoi (he has since joined the BJP). She also appeared in the reality show Bigg Boss in 2020.