Curlies, once notorious for housing rave parties at South Anjuna beach, is again under the scanner after the death of BJP leader and TikTok star Sonali Phogat.
42-year-old Phogat had complained of uneasiness while she was at 'Curlies' restaurant and bar in Anjuna from where she was taken to the hospital where she passed away. Police do not suspect any foul play in the case at the moment, but her family believes she was poisoned.
CBI Investigation
Goa Police is investigating the case from all possible angles. Her post-mortem will be done at the Goa Medical College, which will reveal the exact cause of death. The post-mortem is being conducted on Wednesday under the supervision of two senior doctors. Sources also said that the entire post-mortem proceedings will be videographed. Her sister Raman told ANI , "She may not have suffered a heart attack. We demand a proper investigation from the CBI. My family is not ready to believe that she died of a heart attack. She had no such medical problems."
Sonali visited Curlies restaurant a beach shack, at Anjuna where she complained about uneasiness and later she came to the hotel. The CCTV footage of the restaurant is being scanned and the staff deployed of the hotel is also being questioned. A two-person fact-finding team has been formed by the National Commission for Women to to investigate the death of Sonali Phogat. The Congress has also demanded a CBI inquiry into the death of the BJP leader.
The notorious restaurant again in the spotlight
The beach shack sprang into spotlight during the sordid rape and murder case of Scarlett Keeling a 14-year-old British national. The incident brought the shack into intensive spotlight. What followed was the high profile police-politician-drug nexus case which involved the son of the former Home Minister of Goa Ravi Naik. Scarlett Keeling’s mother Fiona Mackeown alleged in a court deposition that Roy Naik handed drugs to her minor daughter at Curlies restaurant.
Goa's Curlies continues to hold rave parties into the night |
Scarlett Keeling had e-mailed a Spanish friend that boys at Curlies had showed her porn on their cellphones and tried to rape her. During the time Edwin Nunes, owner of Curlies shack, denied that his restaurant had any presence in the high-profile murder case, Nunes said that Scarlett could have been raped by any of the Indian tourists who roamed the beach . In a statement Nunes said “She 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.”
Curlies continues to allegedly hold rave parties, play loud music late into the night and people openly peddle and consume drugs inside the shack.
Became a permanent restaurant
For a very long time, the restaurant was a seasonal shack. The owner Edwin Nunes used to apply for a temporary seasonal shack license every year. In 2008, Department of Tourism had clamped down on rampant issuance of shack licences by Village Panchayats and took over the functioning itself. Documents with The Goan reveal that the shack was given its’ first and last No Objection Certificate by Department of Tourism for erection of temporary shacks on December 31, 2007. The temporary permission was to last till May 31, 2008 when the Tourist Season of 2007 ended. The order signed by then Tourism Director Elvis Gomes clearly stated that the validity would not extend beyond that period. What happened thereafter was remarkable.
On July 2, 2008, Sandip Chimulkar, Sarpanch of Anjuna-Caisua‘renewed’ the license of Curlies as a ‘restaurant’. Thirty two days after the end of tourism season of 2007, Curlie’s became a permanent restaurant from a temporary shack. Anjuna Panchayat officials have confirmed that Curlies, prior to the 2007 season, had never applied for a restaurant licence, nor had been granted one. How then did they get a renewal?
The dubious past of Curlies owner Edwin Nunes
Edwin Nunes, is a local from Anjuna and a former sarpanch of Anjuna Panchayat. His flourishing business of the Curlies beach shack has been down to him gracing the arms of politicians. Edwin Nunes has established a fine tuned relationship within the political circles in Goa. Be it the BJP or the Congress, Edwin has paid up with the right people, sources within the enforcement told us.
Edwin Nunes, owner of Curlies and DJ at the popular beach restaurant. |
During the highly publicised Scarlett Keeling case, Keeling alleged that she had e-mailed a Spanish friend that boys at Curlies had showed her porn on their cellphones and tried to rape her. Denying that his restaurant had any presence in the high-profile murder case, Nunes said that Scarlett could have been raped by any of the Indian tourists who throng the beach frequently during the tourist season. “She used to go to every shack on the beach. The rape happened at a shack about one km away from Curlies."
Two people, Placido Carvalho and Samson D’Souza, were arrested by the Goa Police in connection with the murder. Curlies continues to allegedly hold rave parties, play loud music late into the night and people openly peddle and consume drugs inside-activities legally banned in Goa.
