BJP Leader Sonali Phogat’s Body Carried “Multiple Blunt Force Injuries”, Police Register Murder Case
NEW DELHI, Aug 25: The Goa Police on Thursday arrested deceased actor and BJP leader from Haryana Sonali Phogat’s two associates Sudhir Sangwan and Sukhwinder Wasi after her post-mortem report mentioned that there were “multiple blunt force injuries” on her body. The Goa Police had added section 302 (murder) of the India Penal Code after the post-mortem report related to the death of the 42-year-old leader was issued.
Her family has called for a CBI probe into her death after the post-mortem report revealed multiple bruises on her body. The case has been filed against her two associates who, the family claims, are responsible for her rape and murder. Her brother Rinku Dhaka had claimed that her personal assistant Sudhir Sangwan had mixed some drugs in her drink and raped her before the murder.
The police filed a case against Sudhir Sangwan and Sukhwinder Wasi, who had accompanied her to Goa. The post-mortem report mentioned multiple bruises in her body, which the report described as “blunt force trauma.” “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,” the report said. The report, however, did not mention any cause of death. Several tests, including chemical analysis of tissues, are pending. “Women police officers who conducted a physical examination of Sonali Phogat’s body have not found any sharp-edged injuries on the body,” police said.
The family has claimed that Sudhir Sangwan had raped her earlier as well. Sonali Phogat had complained to her mother about her personal assistant, they said. “She said Sangwan had given her food laced with some intoxicant, raped her and made a video,” read her brother Rinku Dhaka’s complaint to the police. Sudhir Sangwan had threatened to release the video on social media, the complaint read.
The complainant also claimed that Sangwan also threatened Sonali of destroying her political and acting career and seized her phones, property records, ATM cards, and house keys.
The 42-year-old BJP leader from Haryana’s Hisar died on Tuesday in Goa, where she had gone with a group. She was declared dead on arrival at the St Anthony Hospital at Anjuna in North Goa. Initially the death was attributed to heart attack, which was challenged by her family. She was healthy and was suffering from no condition that could cause her death overnight, they said. A few hours before her death, she had spoken to mother, sister and brother-in-law over telephone.
Sonali Phogat’s another brother Watan Dhaka said it was Sudhir who told them that Sonali had a heart attack. “He (Sudhir) said she was unwell the night before and kept changing his version. That made us suspicious,” he added. Asked why the First Information Report was filed so late, he said, “We have no idea. We said an FIR should be filed first and then the post-mortem can be done. But the local authorities wanted the post-mortem first.”
Sonali’s family members are not satisfied with the post-mortem being conducted in Goa. Sonali’s brother Rinku Dhaka said that he will get the post-mortem done again in AIIMS, New Delhi.
“We are not satisfied here. We will get the post-mortem done again in AIIMS Delhi. We are not being heard here. My sister was committed to the BJP but not a single BJP leader came here to help us. We want justice,” Rinku said.
Claiming that his sister was poisoned, he said, “I have seen my sister’s body and her face, ears are blue and this happens when the poison is inside the body, not in a heart attack. My sister was healthy.”
Meanwhile, Yashodhara, 15-year-old daughter of the BJP leader, sought justice for her mother. “My mother deserves justice. The case requires proper investigation and the culprits should get strict punishment,” she said.
Sonali, who hailed from Haryana, contested the last Assembly election from Haryana from the Adampur constituency on a BJP ticket against Kuldeep Bishnoi. She also appeared in the reality show ‘Bigg Boss’ in 2020. Her husband, Sanjay Phogat had also died at the age of 42 in 2016 in heart attack in their farm house in Hisar.
(Manas Dasgupta)
