The last rites of Haryana BJP leader Sonali Phogat, who died under mysterious circumstances in Goa, were held here on Friday even as a large number of people turned up to pay their last respects.
Phogat's teenage daughter Yashodhara lit the funeral pyre as she and the other family members bade her a tearful adieu at the cremation ground in Rishi Nagar.
Phogat, who started her career as a news anchor, later found fame on video hosting platform TikTok and also acted in a few movies.
On Thursday evening, her body was brought to her farmhouse here from Goa to enable people pay their tributes.
Haryana Minister Kamal Gupta, the BJP MLA from Hisar, and another party leader Kuldeep Bishnoi were present.
On August 23 morning, Phogat was rushed to St Anthony Hospital at Anjuna in North Goa, where she was declared dead. Her husband, too, had died under mysterious circumstances a few years ago.
Though initially, it was assumed that she may have died due to a heart attack, a post-mortem report mentioned that 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.
Her brother Rinku Dhaka had filed a complaint against the two men at Anjuna Police Station on Wednesday.
A panel of forensic experts from the Goa Medical College and Hospital conducted the autopsy on her body on Thursday morning after her family agreed to the procedure.
Dr Sunil Shrikant Chimbolkar of the Forensic Science Department of GMCH in his report reserved the opinion on the cause of death.
"The cause of death due to the best of my knowledge and belief is reserved pending chemical analysis. Histopathology and serological reports of the tissues preserved," the report said.
"However there are multiple blunt force injuries over the body. In view of the above, the manner of death is for the investigating officer to ascertain," it added.
On Thursday, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had said his government will consider handing over the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation if the Phogat family wanted so.
On Friday, Kuldeep Bishnoi said he had spoken to the chief minister and urged him for a CBI inquiry.
Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant told reporters in Panaji on Thursday that state Director General of Police Jaspal Singh was personally monitoring the investigation.
Goa Forward Party chief Vijai Sardesai on Thursday criticized Sawant for declaring prematurely that there was no foul play in her death.
Sardesai said the chief minister jumped the gun and his uninformed and premature conclusions put a question mark on the doctor prefix he uses before his name.
Sawant is an Ayurvedic doctor by training.
The autopsy was earlier scheduled on Wednesday, but Phogat's brother claimed she was murdered by two of her associates and the family would agree to autopsy only after an FIR was registered against them. On Thursday morning, Sonali Phogat's nephew Mohinder Phogat told PTI that the family had consented to autopsy on condition that it would be video-graphed.
Dhaka, her brother, had alleged that a short while before her death, Phogat had spoken to her mother, sister and brother-in-law. She sounded disturbed during the conversation and complained against her two colleagues, he claimed. Three years ago, one of her aides had sexually assaulted her after spiking her food and later blackmailed her, Dhaka further alleged in the police complaint.