PANAJI
As the Goa Police are tirelessly working to tie up the loose ends of Sonali Phogat’s murder mystery, a film director’s disclosure about the BJP leader’s alleged ‘depression phase’ could add another twist to the ongoing investigation.
Around 20 days before leaving for Goa, police sources said, Phogat confided in him of being blackmailed by her personal assistant Sudhir Sangwan, currently in police custody on charges of murder.
The investigation team is likely to reach out to the director for his statement. “The film director approached her around 20 days before her death, allegedly offering her 12 shows. When she was asked to sign the contract of Rs 1.5 crore, she requested him not to transfer the money to Sangwan. She requested him (director) to either meet her in Delhi or Hisar for pre-show formalities,” an official said, requesting anonymity citing national attention to the case.
The BJP functionary, who continued her passion for acting, reportedly told the filmmaker that Sangwan had her intimate videos through which he was blackmailing her. “She was in depression but being a public figure, she chose to remain normal,” said the source.
The revelation could add woes to Sangwan, who is considered a prime murder accused. He confessed to the police to have hatched a plot to kill her. The Goa Police will seek to extend his custody and that of co-accused Sukhwinder Singh, both of whom will complete 10 days of custodial interrogation.
A team of local police, who have taken the investigation to Hisar, Rohtak, and Gurugram, is said to have collected crucial evidence in connection with the case. On their second day of the probe in Gurugram, the team approached the Metropolitan Magistrate, purportedly to seek permission to carry the evidence including documents to Goa.
“Three diaries, details of three bank accounts, jewelry, cash, her passport, property documents, and digital locker are among huge pieces of evidence collected during their five days of the probe in Haryana and Gurugram so far,” the source said.
On the other hand, the family continues to demand a CBI probe with Director General of Goa Police Jaspal Singh claiming his force is capable of taking the case to a logical conclusion.
But in the 14 days of the murder mystery, Goa police have not sent her viscera samples for chemical analyses.
