<p>The Goa police revealed that Sonali Phogat, the Bharatiya Janata Party leader from Haryana was murdered using poison. According to the police’s investigation, Phogat’s two associates laced her drink with an “obnoxious chemical” at a beach village shack this past Monday.</p>.<p>Addressing a press conference at the Anjuna police station on Friday, Inspector General of Police Omvir Singh Bishnoi said that the poison was allegedly added to a water bottle by Phogat’s associates Sudhir Sangwan and Sukhwinder Singh—now in police custody—who confessed to the crime.</p>.<p>“When confronted, Sukhwinder and Sudhir confessed that they intentionally mixed an obnoxious chemical into a liquid and made the victim drink it,” Bishnoi said.</p>.<p><strong>Also read: <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/national/bjp-leader-sonali-phogats-last-rites-held-in-haryana-1139476.html" target="_blank">BJP leader Sonali Phogat's last rites held in Haryana</a></strong></p>.<p>Phogat, who had complained of uneasiness on Monday night after dinner, was declared dead on arrival at a local hospital in North Goa in the wee hours of Tuesday. She was on a vacation in Goa with her associates.</p>.<p>Her family had alleged foul play in Phogat’s death, with one of her sisters claiming that the deceased had called her after dinner on Monday, and complained about the food she had eaten.</p>.<p>Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant had claimed that Phogat had died of a heart attack, even as her brother Rinku Dhaka had said it was murder, demanded that a murder case be registered.</p>.<p>Bishnoi said that interviews with witnesses and CCTV camera footage obtained from the Curlies beach shack in Anjuna revealed that her drink was spiked by the duo while she was partying with them.</p>.<p>“Singh and Sangvan confessed to the police that they intentionally gave the victim an obnoxious chemical in a liquid and made her drink it. Then she lost control and she was looked after (by the accused). Another shot shows she was given something in a liquid,” the senior police official said.</p>.<p>A post-mortem conducted on Thursday had revealed blunt force trauma on her body, but the IGP said that the forensic experts, at the Goa Medical College near Panaji, had also reserved declaring the cause of Phogat’s death pending “chemical analysis, histopathology and serological” reports.</p>.<p>Bishnoi also said that the motive behind the murder—whether it was political or financial or economic—was yet to be ascertained.</p>.<p>Meanwhile, the Congress party in Goa demanded that the Central Bureau of Investigation look into the death, which was registered as a case of murder much delay on Thursday.</p>.<p>“There is a need to inquire into this case by the CBI from Haryana. I don’t think that (Goa) police will come to a final conclusion… The investigation cannot be conducted by police in Anjuna, who don’t seem to know anything,” Congress leader Michael Lobo said.</p>
<p>The Goa police revealed that Sonali Phogat, the Bharatiya Janata Party leader from Haryana was murdered using poison. According to the police’s investigation, Phogat’s two associates laced her drink with an “obnoxious chemical” at a beach village shack this past Monday.</p>.<p>Addressing a press conference at the Anjuna police station on Friday, Inspector General of Police Omvir Singh Bishnoi said that the poison was allegedly added to a water bottle by Phogat’s associates Sudhir Sangwan and Sukhwinder Singh—now in police custody—who confessed to the crime.</p>.<p>“When confronted, Sukhwinder and Sudhir confessed that they intentionally mixed an obnoxious chemical into a liquid and made the victim drink it,” Bishnoi said.</p>.<p><strong>Also read: <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/national/bjp-leader-sonali-phogats-last-rites-held-in-haryana-1139476.html" target="_blank">BJP leader Sonali Phogat's last rites held in Haryana</a></strong></p>.<p>Phogat, who had complained of uneasiness on Monday night after dinner, was declared dead on arrival at a local hospital in North Goa in the wee hours of Tuesday. She was on a vacation in Goa with her associates.</p>.<p>Her family had alleged foul play in Phogat’s death, with one of her sisters claiming that the deceased had called her after dinner on Monday, and complained about the food she had eaten.</p>.<p>Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant had claimed that Phogat had died of a heart attack, even as her brother Rinku Dhaka had said it was murder, demanded that a murder case be registered.</p>.<p>Bishnoi said that interviews with witnesses and CCTV camera footage obtained from the Curlies beach shack in Anjuna revealed that her drink was spiked by the duo while she was partying with them.</p>.<p>“Singh and Sangvan confessed to the police that they intentionally gave the victim an obnoxious chemical in a liquid and made her drink it. Then she lost control and she was looked after (by the accused). Another shot shows she was given something in a liquid,” the senior police official said.</p>.<p>A post-mortem conducted on Thursday had revealed blunt force trauma on her body, but the IGP said that the forensic experts, at the Goa Medical College near Panaji, had also reserved declaring the cause of Phogat’s death pending “chemical analysis, histopathology and serological” reports.</p>.<p>Bishnoi also said that the motive behind the murder—whether it was political or financial or economic—was yet to be ascertained.</p>.<p>Meanwhile, the Congress party in Goa demanded that the Central Bureau of Investigation look into the death, which was registered as a case of murder much delay on Thursday.</p>.<p>“There is a need to inquire into this case by the CBI from Haryana. I don’t think that (Goa) police will come to a final conclusion… The investigation cannot be conducted by police in Anjuna, who don’t seem to know anything,” Congress leader Michael Lobo said.</p>