Three days after mysterious death, Sonali Phogat cremated in Haryana
Darpan News Desk IANS, 26 Aug, 2022 10:00 AM
Chandigarh, Aug 26 (IANS) Three days after her mysterious death, BJP leader and actress Sonali Phogat's last rites were performed on Friday in her hometown Hisar in Haryana by her family members and sympathisers.
Her 16-year-old daughter, Yashodhara, lit the funeral pyre amid the presence of a large number of people and leaders who turned up to pay their last respects.
The family demanded a probe into her death at a resort in Goa by the CBI.
Earlier, her body was brought to Hisar from Goa and kept at the civil hospital mortuary.
Wrapped in a BJP flag, the body was kept at her farmhouse at Dhandhoor village, 10 km from the district headquarters, to enable the people to pay respect.
Phogat started her career as a news anchor and later rose to fame on video hosting platform TikTok. She also acted in a few movies.
Haryana urban local bodies minister Kamal Gupta, the BJP MLA from Hisar, Kuldeep Bishnoi, who recently quit the Congress to join the BJP, Hisar mayor Gautam Sardana were present, among others.
Rejecting all opposition to his elevation, Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi appointed Navjot Singh Sidhu as the party's new Punjab unit President along with four Working Presidents.
Calling the reports of alleged snooping on prominent citizens using Israeli Pegasus spyware as "baseless", the ruling BJP on Monday said there is not a single shred of evidence so far that links either the central government or the party to this controversy.
Congress MPs from both Houses had met on Sunday afternoon at Rajya Sabha member Pratap Singh Bajwa's residence to discuss the issues related to Punjab and sought an appointment with Gandhi.
Apart from reviewing the security arrangements in the national capital, the Delhi Police have also strengthened the security in and around the Red Fort ahead of the Independence Day.
Police said acting on a specific information, Budgam Police along with the Army's 53 RR and 43 BN of the CRPF arrested one local terrorist linked with proscribed terror outfit LeT and recovered incriminating materials, arms and ammunition including one Chinese pistol, one magazine, eight live pistol rounds from his possession.
As the Pegasus spyware scandal unravelled within and outside Parliament, he termed it a "shocking assault" on India's democratic polity by the Union government, which had compromised the national security with "this blatantly disgraceful act".
