Sonali Phogat case: Goa party asks CM Sawant to step down as home minister

The Goa Forward Party on Thursday demanded that Chief Minister Pramod Sawant should step down as state home minister till the inquiry into Sonali Phogat's death case is completed by the central agency.

"Sonali Phogat's family and daughter should get justice, the state police won't be able to do it, they are under pressure," Goa Forward Party President and MLA Vijai Sardesai said.

Sardesai said that it was an irresponsible statement by Pramod Sawant that Phogat had died due to cardiac arrest. "Haryana BJP and Chief Minister have doubted the investigation done by the Goa Police and they have demanded a CBI inquiry. This is because Goa CM had given certificate that 'murder' was a heart attack," Sardesai said.

Goa BJP government has come under fire since the death of TikTok star Sonali Phogat to whom alleged Methamphetamine drugs were given.

Phogat had come to Goa on August 22 and was staying at a hotel in Anjuna. She felt uneasy that night and the next morning, she was taken to the private hospital in Anjuna where she was declared brought dead.

Sardesai said that the BJP has failed to make policy, policing, and to provide leadership to the state and hence people are suffering.

He questioned whether the Chief Minister came to know about the circulation of drugs only after the death of Sonali Phogat.

"Chief Minister had no answer when one reporter asked him how drugs enter the state. Everyone in Goa knows how drugs come here. Without government protection and political patronage this trade can't flourish," he said.

Sardesai said that a few years ago there was a report tabled in the Goa Assembly in regards to the politician-police- drug mafia nexus.

"Earlier, the Goa Assembly constituted a committee to study the 'politician-police-drug mafia nexus'. Huge report was tabled in the Assembly then. Pramod Sawant is a member of the same House, isn't he aware of it? Is this trade going on without the role of ruling party members?," he questioned.

Hitting out at Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, Fatorda MLA Sardesai said he was busy these days to save his chair. "He is visiting houses of his ministers and giving them certificates saying they are not corrupt. There are ministers in his cabinet who previously had told the public that one 'Minister' had sold jobs. Wasn't the Chief Minister aware of it?," Sardesai questioned.

"In these days law and order has collapsed as the Chief Minister is busy making the opposition 'Mukt' Goa. He is trying to poach 8 Congress MLAs to achieve this goal. He is in that race," Sardesai said.

--IANS

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