Sonali Phogat’s brother dismisses allegations of Haryana MLA Gopal Kanda’s involvement in BJP leader’s death

Hisar: Late BJP leader and actor Sonali Phogat’s brother Rinku Dhaka, on Friday, dismissed allegations against Haryana MLA Gopal Kanda’s involvement in the former’s death.

“No, there is nothing like that,” Rinku said when he was asked by reporters about Gopal Kanda’s alleged involvement in the matter. Sonali Phogat, 42, was declared dead at the St Anthony Hospital at Anjuna in North Goa on Tuesday morning.

Her family questioned initial reports that she had died of cardiac arrest.

Her brother Rinku filed a complaint with the Goa Police alleging that his sister was raped and murdered by her assistant Sudhir Sangwan and his friend Sukhwinder.

Dhaka alleged that “Phogat’s PA raped her after adding drugs to her meals”. He also claimed that the actor had no plans to visit Goa and she was brought there as per a conspiracy. “She had no plan to come to Goa. She was brought as per a pre-planned conspiracy. There was no movie shoot. Two rooms in the hotel had been booked only for two days. Film shooting was supposed to happen on August 24 but rooms were only booked for August 21-22,” Dhaka said.

After Dhaka’s complaint, new reports surfaced that claimed Gopal Kanda is helping Sangwan and Sukhwinder. However, on Friday, Dhaka denied the allegation while speaking to the media in Haryana.

Sonali Phogat’s post-mortem was done in Goa and as per Rinku, the post-mortem report showed four injuries and poison as the cause of death.”A probe should be done as per the filed FIR. The post-mortem report says that her (Sonali Phogat) body has marks of injury,” Rinku Dhaka, brother of Phogat had said earlier.

However, Goa Police on Thursday said no sharp-edged injuries were found on the body of the actor. The Goa Police on Thursday also registered a murder case against two persons for their alleged involvement in the death of Phogat.

“Murder case has been registered against two persons in Anjuna Police Station. The probe in the case is underway. The deceased’s brother has mentioned the involvement of her PA and one other person. Post-mortem report expected in 1-2 hours. Victim’s body will reach Delhi tonight,” OS Bishnoi, Inspector General of Police, Goa had told ANI.

Sonali Phogat, who rose to fame with her TikTok videos, contested the 2019 Haryana election as a BJP candidate but lost to then Congress leader Kuldeep Bishnoi (he has since joined the BJP). She also appeared in the reality show Bigg Boss in 2020.