- Tuesday, March 11, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
The family of Sonali Phogat, the actor-turned-political leader of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has suspected foul play in her death in the coastal state of Goa on Tuesday (23). Rinku Dhaka, Phogat’s brother, has alleged that she was murdered by two of her associates and filed a formal complaint with the state’s police.
Dhaka said that Phogat, 42, spoke to her mother, sister and brother-in-law shortly before her death during which she complained against two of her colleagues and seemed disturbed, Press Trust of India reported.
He also said that CCTV cameras, laptop and other crucial things went missing from Phogat’s farmhouse in her home state of Haryana.
Phogat, a leader from Hisar in Haryana who rose to fame with TikTok videos, was “brought dead” at St Anthony Hospital at Anjuna in North Goa on Tuesday morning, a police officer said, adding that she died of a suspected heart attack.
The local police have registered a case of unnatural death. Phogat’s family members reached Goa on Tuesday night. Dhaka said in his complaint filed with Anjuna police that two of her late sister’s associates killed her.
“We had asked her to stay away from them and return to Hisar the next day (after Phogat spoke to her mother),” Dhaka told reporters outside the Anjuna police station.
He claimed the police have refused to register a First Information Report (FIR) against the two persons. “If the FIR is not filed against them, we will not allow the postmortem to be conducted in Goa,” he added.
Dhaka said the family members would prefer the postmortem to be conducted at the All Indian Institute of Medical Sciences (AAIMS) in Delhi or at AIIMS, Jaipur.
“She was a BJP leader for the last 15 years. We will also appeal to the prime minister to help us in getting justice for her,” he said.
Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant on Wednesday said the state police were conducting a detailed investigation into the death of BJP leader Sonali Phogat.
Considering the opinion of doctors and Goa director general of police Jaspal Singh, it preliminarily looks like she died due to a heart attack, Sawant, a BJP leader, told reporters.
The postmortem was scheduled to be conducted at the Goa Medical College and Hospital on Wednesday (24).
Sawant said he has been following up the matter with Singh.
“The Goa Police are conducting a detailed investigation into the case,” he said. The Anjuna police have registered a case of unnatural death. The family members of Phogat arrived in Goa on Tuesday night.
Singh said there is no foul play in the case. There are no external injury marks on the body, he said, adding that the postmortem report will reveal the exact cause of the death.
[With PTI inputs]
