Sonali Phogat death: Goa police detain suspected drug peddler, Curlies owner

Two more suspects were detained by the Goa Police in connection with the death of BJP leader Sonali Phogat. The police have arrested a North Goa restaurant owner and a suspected peddler, who had allegedly supplied drugs to the two accused arrested.

The police also arrested Phogat’s associate Sukhwinder Singh and her PA Sudhir Sagwan on Thursday. The duo confessed that they had procured drugs from Dattaprasad Gaonkar, the suspected drug peddler.

Gaonkar was soon detained from Anjuna.


Another man who has been detained has been identified as Edwin Nunes, the owner of Curlies restaurant, where Phogat was partying late at night on August 22 before her death under mysterious circumstances.

Phogat, a popular TikTok star who hailed from Haryana, 42, was brought dead to St Anthony Hospital in Anjuna in North Goa district on August 23 morning from her hotel.

The police said Sagwan and Singh allegedly mixed some "obnoxious substance" in water and forced Phogat to drink it while partying at Curlies restaurant on the intervening night of August 22 and 23, adding they have been charged with murder.

The motive behind the alleged murder of Phogat could be "economic interest", a senior police officer added.

(input from agencies)