Sonali Phogat drugged before death: Police

Panaji: The Goa police on Friday arrested two persons accused in connection with the alleged murder of BJP leader Sonali Phogat.

The police have arrested Phogat's PA Sudhir Sangwan and his associate Sukhwinder Singh and have taken them for a medical checkup.

"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 persons had travelled to Goa along with Phogat on August 22. "When confronted, Sukhwinder and Sudhir confessed that they intentionally mixed an obnoxious chemical into a liquid and made the victim drink it," IGP Omvir Singh Bishnoi said.

The two accused- Sudhir Sangwan and Sukhwinder Singh- have been arrested and further investigations are on, 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 experts from the forensic science laboratory.

Meanwhile, Phogat'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.