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Haryana BJP leader Sonali Phogat dies of heart attack in Goa

She was brought dead to St Anthony Hospital at Anjuna in North Goa

Sonali Phogat | PTI

BJP leader from Haryana and actor Sonali Phogat died of a heart attack in Goa, police said on Tuesday.

Phogat (42), a former Tik Tok star who had also participated in the reality TV show "Bigg Boss", was on a visit to Goa along with some of her staff members.

On Monday night, she was brought to St Anthony Hospital at Anjuna in North Goa district after she complained of uneasiness.

Between 7 pm and 8 pm on Monday, Phogat had posted two different videos and four images on her Instagram profile showing her in a pink turban.

Goa Director General of Police Jaspal Singh told PTI that Phogat complained of uneasiness while she was at 'Curlies' restaurant in Anjuna from where she was taken to the hospital.

There is no foul play in the case, he said.

There are no external injury marks on the body, Singh said, adding that the postmortem report will reveal the exact cause of the death.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (Mapusa) Jivba Dalvi said she was brought dead to the hospital.

Prime facie, the cause of death is established as heart attack but further medical examination is on, he said.

The body was sent to the state-run Goa Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) at Bambolim for postmortem.

Forensic experts at the GMCH will conduct the postmortem, Singh said.

Haryana BJP chief O P Dhankar said, "She has passed away. I have been given information that she was in Goa."

BJP's Hisar district president Capt Bhupender said, "Sonali ji was in Goa. I spoke to her assistant and he said that she died of a heart attack".

Phogat had unsuccessfully contested from Adampur Assembly constituency in Hisar against Kuldeep Bishnoi in the 2019 Assembly election.

Bishnoi, who was then in the Congress, recently joined the BJP.

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, Deputy CM Dushyant Chautala, BJP leaders O P Dhankar and Kuldeep Bishnoi took to Twitter to condole Phogat's demise.

Bishnoi had met Phogat in Hisar a few days ago.

Phogat was active on social media and recently posted photos of her meeting with Bishnoi.

On Monday evening, some videos and photographs were uploaded on her Instagram profile.

In one solo video, with no hashtags, she was seen wearing a pink turban.

Another video, with hashtags Haryana, Haryanvi, Chore, showed her with a group of people.

The video was also tagged to @suneelrao (Suneel Rao), who is a BJP leader from Haryana, and @binderdanodaofficial (Binder Danoda), who claims to be an artist on his Instagram profile.

Phogat had also posted four photographs showing her in the pink turban, with hashtags like 'Real Boss Lady', 'Haryana', 'Dabang', 'Strong', 'Always ready', 'Smile for the pictures'.

Phogat had 8,85,000 followers on Instagram and her profile described her as a mother, actor and content creator.

After the news of her death, many people expressed grief through comments on these posts.

Her Instagram profile had no pictures from her Goa visit.

Phogat's Facebook profile also had similar pictures in pink turban, uploaded around the same time as that on Instagram.

She had participated in a Janmashtami festival function in Hisar a few days back.

Her husband passed away a few years ago.