Sonali Phogat funeral held, thousands pay their last respects

Hisar: The last rites of Haryana BJP leader Sonali Phogat were held here on Friday with a large number of people turning up to pay their last respects.

The politician-actor died under mysterious circumstances in Goa on August 23. Phogat's teenage daughter Yashodhara lit the funeral pyre as she along with her other family members bade her a tearful adieu at a cremation ground in Rishi Nagar. A number of Phogat's fans also turned up at the cremation site.

Phogat, who started her career as a news anchor, later found fame on the video hosting platform TikTok and also acted in a few movies. On Thursday night, her body was moved here from Goa via Delhi. Later, the mortal remains were kept in the mortuary of Civil Hospital Hisar. The body was later taken to her farmhouse here in the morning for people to pay their last respects.

Haryana Minister Kamal Gupta, the BJP MLA from Hisar, and another party leader Kuldeep Bishnoi also paid tributes to the deceased. Kuldeep Bishnoi said on Friday he had spoken to Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and urged him for a CBI inquiry into her death.

"I request government that without any delay CBI probe should be recommended," he said here as he referred to Phogat's family suspecting foul play behind her death. Phogat had unsuccessfully contested the 2019 State Assembly polls against Bishnoi from Adampur. At that time Bishnoi was with Congress.

Bishnoi's resignation as Adampur MLA after he quit the Congress earlier this month to switch over to BJP, has necessitated bypolls to the seat. Bishnoi, who had recently met Sonali Phogat in Adampur after he joined the BJP, described her as a very warm and affectionate person and added that she had assured her and her team's full support in case Bishnoi or his son Bhavya enters the fray. "Her death is not only a personal loss, but politically too it's a loss for me," he said.

Phogat was brought dead to St Anthony Hospital at Anjuna in North Goa district on August 23 morning from her hotel. Doctors had then said prima facie it appears she died of a heart attack. However, a post-mortem report mentioned there were "multiple blunt force injuries" on her body, prompting the Goa Police to press charges of murder against two of her associates Sudhir Sagwan and Sukhwinder Wasi.

Police on Friday said the leader was fed some "obnoxious chemical" through her drinks by her two aides during a party at a North Goa restaurant which apparently caused her death.

Shortly before her last rites, Phogat's brother Rinku Dhaka reiterated that her death was not because of natural causes and an in depth probe was needed to bring out the truth. "Sudhir Sangwan's behaviour was not right. Previously, there were complaints that he does not allow party workers to meet Sonali. He always used to pick up her phone," said Dhaka. While murder charges have been pressed against him and one Wasi, there could be more people involved, he added.