Goa Police arrest 1 more drug peddler in connection with Sonali Phogat case

PTI

Panaji, August 28

The Goa Police have arrested one more drug peddler in connection with the case of alleged murder of BJP leader Sonali Phogat, an official said on Sunday.

With this, five people have so far been arrested in the case.

Phogat, a former TikTok star and contestant on the reality show ‘Bigg Boss’, died on August 23, a day after arrival in Goa.

On Saturday night, the Anjuna police in north Goa district arrested drug peddler Rama alias Ramadas Mandrekar for allegedly supplying drugs to another peddler Dattaprasad Gaonkar, who is already in custody in connection with the case, the official said.

Gaonkar had allegedly supplied drugs to two other accused Sudhir Sagwan and Sukhwinder Singh, who accompanied Phogat on the Goa trip, police said earlier. 

The Goa Police on Saturday said Phogat was given methamphetamine, a recreational drug, by her aides hours before her death.

Edwin Nunes, the other arrested man, is the owner of the Curlies restaurant in north Goa where Phogat and her aides had partied on the intervening night of August 22 and 23.

Phogat was administered methamphetamine, and some left-over drug was recovered from the restaurant's washroom, Deputy Superintendent of Police Jivba Dalvi had said.

Sagwan and Sukhwinder Singh allegedly told police that they had procured drugs from Gaonkar who worked as a room boy at Grand Leoney Resort in Anjuna where they were staying.

While Singh and Sagwan are charged with murder, Nunes and Gaonkar are booked under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.

Videos of CCTV footage from the restaurant had emerged on social media on Saturday. In one video, Phogat is seen dancing with Sagwan and the latter is seen forcing her to drink water which she instantly spits out.

Another video showed Phogat being escorted out of the restaurant by the accused. She is seen staggering and almost falling near the staircase on her way out.

Court remands three accused in 5-day police custody    

A Goa court on Sunday remanded three of the accused arrested in the Sonali Phogat case in police custody for five days, a senior police official said.

The police produced the three accused -- Edwin Nunes, who owns the Curlies restaurant in Goa, and two drug peddlers Dattaprasad Gaonkar and Ramakant Mandrekar -- before the court in Panaji.

 The court sent them in police custody for five days, the official said.

 Nunes had also moved an application for bail, but the court rejected it, the official added.

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