Sonali Phogat case: Police custody of two accused extended

Panaji, Sep 6: A Goa court on Tuesday extended by two days the police custody of two accused arrested in connection with the alleged murder of BJP leader Sonali Phogat.

Judicial Magistrate First Class at Mapusa extended the police custody of Phogat's associates Sudhir Sangwan and Sukhwinder Singh by two days. The duo was arrested in the last week of August and remanded to police custody for 10 days.

Their custody expired on Tuesday, after which they were presented before a local court. Phogat (43), a former Tik Tok star and contestant on the reality TV show “Big Boss”, was brought dead to a hospital in North Goa district on August 23, a day after her arrival in the coastal state.

The Goa police had first arrested Sagwan and Singh, who accompanied her on the Goa trip. They then arrested Edwin Nunes, the owner of Curlies restaurant in North Goa, where the BJP leader and her aides had partied on the intervening night of August 22 and 23.

Drug peddlers Dattaprasad Gaonkar and Ramakant Mandrekar were arrested in connection with the case for allegedly supplying drugs. Phogat was administered methamphetamine, and some leftover drug was recovered from the restaurant’s washroom, police had said earlier.