Another drug peddler arrested in connection with Sonali Phogat murder

|HT|

Police in Goa have arrested a fifth person - another drug peddler - in connection with the alleged murder of Haryana BJP leader Sonali Phogat, an official said Sunday. The arrest was made late Saturday night. Police in the North Goa district of Anjuna claim Rama, alias Ramadas Mandrekar, supplied drugs to another peddler Dattaprasad Gaonkar, who is already in custody over suspicion of having supplied drugs to Phogat's close aides and key accused - Sudhir Sagwan and Sukhwinder Singh. The two accompanied Phogat on her Goa trip and allegedly spiked her drink with the drugs.

Phogat, 43, a former TikTok celebrity who gained popularity after appearing on reality TV show Big Boss 14, died on Tuesday after a cardiac arrest.

On Saturday, Jivba Dalvi (deputy superintendent of police) said Phogat had been given a recreational drug called methamphetamine with another (as yet unidentified substance) that was recovered from the washroom of the restaurant that Phogat and her associates visited before her death.

Police have also arrested Edwin Nunes - the owner of the Curlies restaurant at which Phogat and her aides partied in the hours before her death.

Sagwan and Sukhwinder Singh told police they procured drugs from Gaonkar, who worked at the Hotel Grand Leoney Resort in Anjuna where they were staying.

Nunes and Gaonkar will be produced in a court in Goa today.

Singh and Sagwan have been charged with murder, while Nunes and Gaonkar are booked under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.

Several CCTV videos from the restaurant have emerged on social media since the investigation began. In one, Phogat can be seen dancing with Sagwan as the latter forces her to drink something that she instantly spits out.

Another video showed Phogat being escorted out of the restaurant – she is barely able to walk by herself – by the accused. She is seen staggering and almost falling near the staircase on her way out.

Phogat was brought dead to St Anthony Hospital at Anjuna in North Goa district on August 23 morning from the hotel where she was staying.

While doctors said Phogat had a heart attack, the case took a turn after her brother alleged it was a murder, accusing Sagwan and Singh of having a role to play in her death.

A local court has remanded Sagwan and Singh in police custody for 10 days.

(Except for the headline and the pictorial description, this story has not been edited by THE DEN staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)