Sonali Phogat murder case committed to sessions court in Goa
Sonali Phogat was brought dead to a hospital in Goa’s Anjuna in the wee hours of August 23 after she spent the previous night at a beachfront nightclub, where she was allegedly drugged
The trial in the death of Haryana Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and actor Sonali Phogat was committed to the sessions court at Mapusa, North Goa, on Friday by the judicial magistrate.
“The matter was committed to the sessions court and will be taken up on December 30,” advocates representing the accused said.
Cases that can be exclusively tried by the sessions court by law are required to be committed to the sessions court as per law.
The defendants, who had sought copies of the CCTV footage that is being relied on by the prosecution, have withdrawn their plea and will not file it before the sessions court.
Both Sudhir P Sangvan and Sukhvender Singh, Phogat’s manager and his assistant respectively, have been accused of murdering the BJP leader and have been charged under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
CBI took over the probe from the Goa police in early September after the state government acceded to demands from Phogat’s family and wrote to the Union government seeking that the case be transferred over to the CBI.
The BJP leader was brought dead to the St Anthony’s Hospital at Anjuna in the wee hours of August 23 after she spent the previous night at Curlies’ beach shack, a beachfront nightclub, where she was allegedly drugged with methamphetamine (MDMA) by Sangwan and Singh, who accompanied her to the club.
According to the CBI chargesheet, Sangvan and Singh have been charged under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) read with Section 34 (common intention) and 36 [effect (in this case death) caused partly by act and partly by omission].