Sonali Phogat death: Goas Curlies bar back in spotlight after 14 years

Sonali
Phogat, a 42-year-old BJP leader’s death, has brought Goa’s Curlies bar back in
spotlight. Curlies, a bar and restaurant in south Goa’s Anjuna beach, was where
Phogat had complained of restlessness. She was later taken to a hospital where
she died on Thursday. On Friday, Goa Police registered a murder case against
two of Sonali Phogat’s associates – Sudhir Sangwan, her personal assistant, and
Sukhwinder Wasi, her friend.

Also Read | Sonali Phogat death: Goa Police register murder case against associates

Police are
looking at CCTV footage from the restaurant and are questioning staff members.
The National Commission for Women has set up a two-member fact-finding
committee to probe Sonali Phogat’s death and the Congress has demanded a CBI
inquiry into the death of the BJP leader.

Why is Curlies
bar in spotlight?

Curlies, a
typical Goan shack restaurant, is no stranger to controversy. The bar came into
spotlight following the rape and murder of a 14-year-old British girl, Scarlett
Keeling, in 2008. Keeling’s mother Fiona Mackeown alleged in a court hearing
that Roy Naik, son of former Goa Home Minister Ravi Naik, had handed drugs to
her minor daughter at Curlies, according to a Free Press Journal report.  

The 14-year-old
Scarlett Keeling had reportedly sent an email to a Spanish friend saying that
the boys at Curlies had shown her pornography and had attempted to rape her.

Also Read | Sonali Phogat’s body had ‘blunt force injuries,’ says post-mortem report

Edwin
Nunes, the owner of Curlie’s, had said at the time: “She (Scarlett Keeling)
used to go to every shack on the beach. The rape happened at a shack about one
km away from Curlies. The police and my political rivals are targeting me now.”
Nunes, who hails from Anjuna, was once a sarpanch of the Anjuna panchayat. He
is said to have established relationships with political heavyweights from all
parties, according to a report in The Goan cited by the Free Press Journal.