Sonali Phogat murder case to be transferred to CBI: Goa CM Pramod Sawant
Phogat, a Haryana BJP functionary and Tiktok star, died in Goa on Tuesday. Her family then met Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar and demanded the murder investigation be moved to the CBI, following which Khattar called his Goa counterpart, Sawant said.
Chief minister Pramod Sawant’s decision to hand over the Sonali Phogat murder case to the CBI appears unprecedented. Should the CM agree to transfer cases just because a leader of the ruling party demands it? Normally, cases are transferred to the CBI when the state police are unable to do justice — a failure to crack the case. In the Phogat case, the accused are arrested, the family has taken the body, and the last rites are already performed. Whatever the real story, Goa police have accepted the family’s contention that it was a murder and arrested five persons. By bringing in the CBI, the chief minister, who is also the home minister, has given the impression that Goa police are ineffective, and that only a central agency can investigate criminal cases thoroughly. His easy assent to demands by Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar and Phogat’s family will demoralise the state police. In past instances, when the family of a victim was unhappy with the probe by a police station, the case would be handed to the crime branch. Sawant’s move to transfer the case has left Goans wondering whether he will agree to any kind of requests coming from other BJP CMs or central party leaders. With one stroke, the chief minister has brought into question the crime investigation abilities of the state police force. Political considerations cannot be a reason for handing over cases to the CBI. Are we willing to give a bad name to our state police just to satisfy our political masters? Secondly, the CM should clarify whether the state government will agree to transfer the cases of all alleged murders wherein the family of the victim seeks a CBI probe. Recently, there was a public outcry over the mysterious death of Siddhi Naik, whose body was found on Calangute beach. The government, however, has moved to close the case. Will the CM hand over this case too to the CBI? What about other cases in which family members were not happy with the police probe? It appears the CM needs a reminder that Goa is a state and not a Union territory.
“The Haryana CM called me and urged me to hand over the case,” Sawant told TOI. “I told him we don’t have any problem and we will hand it over to the CBI.”
Meanwhile, DGP Jaspal Singh, when asked if the chief minister told him to start the process to transfer the case to CBI, said, “I have not got any instruction from the CM”.
Goa police registered two cases in connection with the Phogat murder case — a murder case and a narcotics case. In the former, two of Phogat’s aides, Sudhir Sangvan and Sukhwinder Singh, have already been arrested and remanded in 10-day police custody.
In the narcotics case booked in connection with the murder, three people have been arrested so far. A local court on Sunday rejected the bail application filed by Curlies owner Edwin Nunes, who was arrested after meth was found in a shack toilet.
Nunes was represented by Raju Poulekar and Shivani Bodke appeared for the state.
Poulekar said that a fresh bail application would be filed before the NDPS court. He also said that Nunes is not the owner of Curlies. “There are no papers to say that he is the owner of Curlies. The prosecution should say who is the owner of Curlies,” he said.
Nunes, along with alleged drug peddler Dattaprasad Gaonkar and Ramdas Mandrekar, have been remanded in five days police custody. Anjuna police had arrested Mandrekar for supplying drugs to Gaonkar, who then sold it to Sangvan.
In the aftermath of the murder, Goa police had initially registered the case as an unnatural death. “The preliminary investigation into Phogat’s death has revealed that it is due to a cardiac arrest. The case is being monitored by the DGP,” Sawant had said then.
As the police were reluctant to register a murder case, Phogat’s brother Rinku Dhaka demanded a CBI inquiry to get justice for his sister.
Later, after the portmortem report, Goa police registered the case as a murder.
