Goa police arrest drug peddler, restaurant owner in Sonali Phogat case

Panaji, August 27

Goa Police on Saturday arrested a North Goa restaurant owner and a peddler, who had allegedly supplied drugs to the two accused held earlier in the BJP leader Sonali Phogat murder case, a senior officer said.

With the fresh arrests, the number of people in police custody so far rose to four. 

The drug peddler, Dattaprasad Gaonkar, and Edwin Nunes, who owns Curlies restaurant where Phogat had partied before her death, were detained from Anjuna on Saturday morning.

They were arrested in the afternoon, the officer said.

Sudhir Sagwan and Sukhwinder Singh, arrested earlier in the case, had “confessed” in their statement that they had procured drugs from Gaonkar, the officer said.

Gaonkar and Nunes had been booked under the NDPS Act, he said.

Prima facie, Gaonkar sold drugs to Sagwan and Singh who made the victim consume them while partying. Nunes was arrested as the incident occurred on the premises of his restaurant.

The police on Friday 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 had been charged with murder. 

The 42-year-old popular TikTok star was brought dead to St Anthony Hospital at Anjuna in North Goa district on August 23 morning from her hotel.

A court in Goa on Saturday remanded Sagwan and Singh in police custody for 10 days.

Nunes had confirmed to PTI earlier that Phogat had come to his restaurant like any other customer.

He, however, didn’t meet Phogat and the restaurant staff treated her like any other patron, Nunes had said.

Police had said that the motive behind the alleged murder of Phogat could be “economic interest”.