A court in Goa on Saturday remanded two accused arrested in the murder case of Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sonali Phogat in police custody for ten days.
The accused duo- Sudhir Sagwan and Sukhwinder Singh- were produced before the court in Mapusa town by Anjuna police on Saturday, reports PTI.
A senior officer said the court remanded the duo in police custody for ten days.
Sagwan and Singh had accompanied Phogat, a popular TikTok star who hailed from Haryana to Goa on August 22.
Phogat, 42, was brought dead to St Anthony Hospital at Anjuna in North Goa district on August 23 morning from her hotel.
The police on Friday said Sagwan and Singh allegedly mixed some "obnoxious substance" in water and forced Phogat to drink it while partying at Curlies restaurant on the intervening night of August 22 and 23, adding they have been charged with murder.
On August 25, the Goa police arrested two persons and charged them with murder in connection with the death of Haryana-based Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sonali Phogat, an official said.
Deputy Superintendent of Police (Mapusa) Jivba Dalvi told PTI that both the accused have been arrested under murder charge.
BJP leader Sonali Phogat was fed some "obnoxious chemical" through her drinks by the two accused during a party at a North Goa restaurant which apparently caused her death, police said.
The motive behind her murder could be "economic interest", said a senior police official.
The incident took place at Curlies Restaurant at Anjuna in North Goa district on the intervening night of August 22 and 23, Inspector General of Police Omvir Singh Bishnoi said.
Sagwan and Singh confessed during questioning that they had intentionally mixed the substance in her drinks, he said.
The two men were seen taking Phogat to the washroom of the restaurant around 4.30 am on August 23 and the three of them were inside the washroom for two hours, he said.
Custodial interrogation will throw light on what happened during those two hours, Bishnoi added.
Two other women were also with the accused at the party and were seen cutting a cake, he said, adding that both were being questioned. Asked about the "multiple blunt force injuries" on her body mentioned in the post-mortem report, Bishnoi said as per the accused these could have been caused by abrasion while she was being taken to the hospital.
When she was taken to the hospital, there were no visible injuries, hence the doctors suspected that she died due to a heart attack, the IGP said.
"But Phogat seemed to have actually died due to the substance she was fed at the restaurant," he said.
Police will also record the statement of taxi drivers who ferried her from Curlies restaurant to the hotel where she was staying and later to the hospital, Bishnoi said.
More people were supposed to join Phogat and others from Mumbai, the police official said