Sonali Phogat death case: Goa court grants bail to two suspected drug peddlers

Panaji: Two of the five accused arrested in Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sonali Phogat’s murder case were granted bail by a special court in Goa on Monday.

Ramachandra Mandrekar and Dattaprasad Gaonkar, who are accused of peddling drugs, were granted bail by the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS) court in Mapusa town.

Earlier, the same court had granted bail to Edwin Nunes, owner of the Curlies Restaurant where Phogat had partied hours before her death. Phogat (43) was brought dead to a private hospital in Anjuna on August 23.

The police had said she was given an ”obnoxious” substance mixed with water to drink. Two of her colleagues, Sudhir Sagwan and Sukhwinder Singh, were arrested under the charge of murder.

The probe into the case was recently handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation. A CBI team is in the state currently.

The team visited the hotel where Phogat was staying as well as the partially demolished Curlies restaurant where she partied, officials said.