PANAJI
Yet to log in a tangible breakthrough in the investigation into the Sonali Phogat "murder" the Goa government faces pressure from yet another quarter after her family and the government of her home State Haryana to transfer the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) -- the famous or infamous khap panchayat.
In her home district of Hisar, a khap mahapanchayat on Sunday demanded a CBI inquiry into Phogat's death and has threatened Haryana's government it will hold a mass agitation from September 24 if their demand is not met by then.
Phogat died on August 23 after a night out at the controversial Curlies shack in Anjuna where police said she was drugged by spiking her drink. The case has been registered as murder and arrested her two associates -- Sudhir Sangwan and Sukhwinder Singh.
Under pressure, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has thus far managed to stave off pressure from his Haryana counterpart M L Khattar who had formally requested for CBI to take over the probe on the request of her family.
The pressure from the Khap Panchayat may now force the Haryana BJP government to renew the demand, especially in the backdrop of the Goa police yet to make any significant breakthrough to reveal the motive behind the murder.
The family has been publicly voicing its dissatisfaction with the progress of the Goa police's probe and has asked that it probe the possibility of it being a 'contract killing'.
Phogat had shot to fame online uploading TikTok video content and was a BJP politician who contested the 2019 assembly elections but lost to Kuldeep Bishnoi of the Congress, who has now joined the BJP.
