Team Herald
ANJUNA: In a continuously changing narrative on the Sonali Phogat death case “murder’ case, the Goa Police on Friday said Haryana BJP leader late Sonali Phogat’s two aides Sudhir Sangwan and Sukhwinder Singh have confessed that they intentionally mixed “obnoxious chemical” in her drink and forced her to consume it at the controversial Curlies beach shack in Anjuna.
Interestingly, the police have stated that the deceased was, as per one of the accused, in a live-in relationship with him.
Addressing reporters on Friday, IGP Omvir Singh Bishnoi said, “Based on the complaint by Phogat’s brother, a murder case has been registered and the cause of death is reserved. The CCTV footage obtained from Curlies beach shack, shows the accused and the deceased partying in the club. And in another video, one of the accused is seen forcing Phogat to drink a substance.”
When the IGP said if the owners of Curlies would be called on Saturday for questioning, he said, “NO one will be spared”, without a specific response to whether the owner of Curlies would be called or not.
When the accused were interrogated, both confessed that they intentionally mixed “obnoxious chemicals” in her drink. Around 4.30 am when she was not in her senses, they took her to the toilet where they spent two hours. However, the accused have not yet given an explanation on this,” the IGP said.
“During the custodial interrogation, suspects will be questioned on the substance used and where have they disposed it. As per preliminary investigation, the involvement of both the accused has been established. We have also contacted the Forensic Science expert”, Bishnoi said.
The IGP said, “So far there is no evidence of sexual assault and harassment. The Post-mortem report has not established sexual assault.”
Bishnoi said the CCTV footage shows many persons and their verification is in progress.
“Taxi drivers who transported Phogat to the hotel from Curlies and the one who took Phogat from the hotel to the hospital will be traced. This will reveal in the exact condition she was in,” the IGP said.
“We are investigating the case from all the angles. It’s difficult to say if there are more people involved in this. One of the Curlies employees said there were two more girls at the party to cut a cake. One of the accused has confessed to having a live-in relationship but we cannot ascertain it. We have 24 hours to interrogate them before producing them before the JMFC. Both the suspects are being interrogated. We are verifying of spots they visited,” Bishnoi added.
Drug use will be revealed after a chemical examination. But what will they examine if they don’t have the sample of the substance used?
“The synthetic drug used will be revealed only after chemical examination. Since there were no physical injury marks on the body, doctors suspected it to be a heart attack. However, now it seems that the consumption of the synthetic drugs is the cause of her death,” the IGP said.
Bishnoi said they will get to know the source from where the drug was obtained before producing the accused before the JMFC for remand.
“We suspect that this murder could be “economic” interest but right now cannot establish whether it’s political or economic”, Omvir Singh Bishnoi said.
“We have 24 hours to interrogate the accused before producing them before the JMFC court for remand. Within these 24 hours, we will try to make them confess the source from where this drug was bought,” the IGP said
On the blunt force injury marks, the IGP said these are minor injuries which may be due to the confrontation with the accused they were taking her to the toilet.
