Sonali Phogat Death: Goa Government To Request Centre To Hand Probe To CBI, Says CM Pramod Sawant

Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said on Monday that the state government would request the Centre to hand over the investigation into the death of Sonali Phogat to Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). 

Phogat, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, died last month in Goa under mysterious circumstances shortly after arriving in the state. Goa Police is investigating the case currently as one of murder. 

Phogat, 43, had also risen to fame on Tik Tok and had been a contestent on reality show Bigg Boss. 

Sawant told reporters in Panaji that the Goa Police have done a "tremendously good investigation" into the case and have also got some clues.

"But due to the demand of people from Haryana and also Sonali Phogat's daughter, we have decided to write to the Union Home Ministry to hand over this case to the CBI. I will personally write a letter to the Union Home Ministry," said Sawant.

Earlier, the Haryana government had written to Goa government to recommend a CBI probe into the case. Phogat was a native of Haryana's Hisar and her family het met Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar over the issue.

"Sonali Phogat's family had given a letter to the chief minister demanding a CBI inquiry into the matter. The family has levelled serious allegations that big names can also be involved in this murder. On the basis of the letter of the family, the state government wrote to the chief minister of Goa to get the matter probed by the CBI.. so that all the facts in the case come out," Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij was quoted as saying in a statement.

Phogat died on August 23 hours after arriving in Goa with her aides. The Goa Police had arrested five people, including two of Phogat's aides, who have been booked for murder.  

Phogat was administered methamphetamine, and some left-over drug was recovered from the restaurant's washroom where she had partied before her death, according to Goa Police.

Teams of Goa Police had also visited Haryana in connection with the case. Sources earlier told PTI the Goa Police was assessing the property, including land, which is in Phogat's name and was trying to find out if there is any property angle involved in the case. Some relatives had earlier alleged that her associate Sudhir Sangwan was eyeing her property.

(With PTI inputs)