PANAJI
The family of BJP leader Sonali Phogat has questioned whether Goa Police is serious about unearthing the motive behind her murder as the prime accused Sudhir Sangwan and co-accused Sukhwinder Singh were sent to judicial lock-up on Saturday.
Speaking to The Goan from Hisar, Phogat’s brother Vatan Dhaka expressed utter disappointment with police’s failure to get the accused to confess motive during their custodial interrogation.
“What have the police done during Sangwan and Singh’s police custody? They exhausted all the 14 days only to find out that my sister was murdered. The police can get the history of a person within 14 hours but in the present case, they have failed to get the murder motive,” he rued.
In their sustained campaign demanding handing over the probe to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the Jatt community in Phogat’s home village Hisar has called for a special panchayat on Sunday to decide further course of action.
The police should also explore the possibility of contract killing, Dhaka demanded, while urging the governments in Haryana and Goa to ensure a CBI probe. “We are clueless about the motive, if Sangwan and Singh are the only accused or if it was a contract killing. We don’t know from where Sukhwinder Singh emerged because he is neither our family nor our relative,” he said.
Being an active BJP worker, Phogat met several people, an admitted fact by the grieving family.
Asked about Goa Police’s probe in Haryana, Gurugram, and Noida; Dhaka claimed the family isn’t satisfied. “They only checked documents, recorded our statements, and visited our farm and houses. They visited Gurugram flat, which they said is registered in the name of Sangwan but what about Phogat’s jewelry, passport, wrist watch, and other belongings? Our furniture was also found in the Gurugram flat. We expected the police to return these to us,” he added.
Dhaka also questioned if the (partial) demolition of the infamous Curlies shack, where Phogat was drugged hours before she died, was to destroy evidence as the investigation is still underway.
Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has already stated that he was happy with the investigation and a chargesheet is shortly to be filed.
