A sessions court in Goa has granted permission to Sukhwinder Singh – an accused in the murder case of Haryana BJP leader and actor Sonali Phogat – to travel abroad. The accused had filed an application before the court seeking permission to travel to Indonesia for two weeks to celebrate his wife’s birthday.
Phogat, who arrived in Goa on August 22, 2022, with her personal assistant Sudhir Sangvan and his aide Sukhwinder Singh, had visited a nightclub in Anjuna the same night. Her death was initially registered as an ‘unnatural death’ by the Goa Police after she was brought dead to St Anthony’s Hospital in Anjuna in the early hours of August 23, 2022. Subsequently, a case of murder was registered and the post mortem report had found several blunt force injuries on her body.
Police probe had found that she died after consuming drugs [MDMA], allegedly administered by Sangvan and Singh during the late-night party at the club.
The Goa Police, which investigated the case initially, had said at the time that Sangvan and Singh “intentionally gave the victim an obnoxious chemical substance in a liquid” hours before she died. The case was later handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which charged the accused under Indian Penal Code sections 302 (murder) read 36 (effect caused partly by act and partly by omission) and 34 (common intention) in November 2022.
During the course of investigation, the accused, Sukhwinder Singh, was released on bail on the condition that he surrender his passport and not to leave Goa without the court’s permission. The accused later sought permission to travel to his native place, which was granted by the court.
Recently, Singh approached the court for an application to travel out of India along with his wife for two weeks to celebrate her birthday. The prosecution objected to the application arguing that the itinerary of travel had not been provided and “permission had been sought by the accused to hand over the passport for a longer period of time”.
In a rejoinder, Singh detailed his travel itinerary to Bali, Indonesia, saying that the couple intended to travel to Kuta from September 9 to September 13, then on to Canggu up to September 17, and later to Uluwatu, where they were to stay until September 22. The accused submitted that he and his wife plan to return to India on September 23.
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The court said that in view of the itinerary given by the accused, permission can be granted to him to travel abroad. In an order on Thursday, Irshad Agha, sessions judge, North Goa, Merces, said the accused is “permitted to leave India on September 9 from Delhi and in any case return back to India on or before September 23”.
The court ruled that the accused shall hand over his passport to the CBI upon returning to India, along with a memo in writing within four days from his return and also furnish his contact number to the CBI in writing. The court further directed the accused to be present before the court on September 24.
