BJP leader, ex-Bigg Boss contestant Sonali Phogat dies of heart attack at 42

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former Bigg Boss 14 contestant Sonali Phogat succumbed to a massive heart attack in Goa on August 23. Phogat was in Goa with some of her staff members on August 22 and was supposed to stay there till August 24. She was 42 years old at the time of her passing. 

Phogat, who made her acting debut with Ek Maa Jo Laakhon Ke Liye Bani Amma in 2016, was last seen as a wildcard contestant on Bigg Boss 14. She has also appeared in a Haryanvi film Chhoriyan Chhoron Se Kam Nahi Hoti and has featured in several Punjabi and Haryanvi music videos. 

She last starred in a web series– The Story of Badmashgarh – which released in 2019 and was also extremely popular on TikTok. Besides this, Phogat contested elections from Adampur constituency on a BJP ticket in the 2019 Haryana elections against Congress’ Kuldeep Bishnoi. 

Phogat was a National Vice President of BJP’s Mahila Morcha and in charge of the Scheduled Tribe wing of Haryana, Delhi and Chandigarh. She was also a member of the BJP’s National Executive Committee and had worked in tribal areas of Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh. 

In 2020, she made headlines for beating up a Market Committee official in Hisar. Phogat was seen slapping the official named Sultan Singh in several videos that surfaced on social media. She then removed her footwear and started hitting the official with it. 

Sonali’s husband Sanjay died at 42 under mysterious circumstances at their farmhouse in December 2016. She is currently survived by her daughter Yashodhara Phogat. 

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