The Union home ministry on Monday ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the death of Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sonali Phogat, officials said.
Phogat, 43, was found dead in Goa in the intervening night of August 22-23.
The MHA's move came after Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant wrote to Union Home Minister Amit Shah requesting a probe by the CBI.
The home ministry asked the department of personnel and training to get the case probed by the CBI, an official privy to the development said.
The CBI functions under the administrative control of the DoPT.
Phogat, a BJP leader from Hisar in Haryana, died in Goa in the intervening night of August 22-23 and her death is being treated as a case of murder.
Earlier in the day, Sawant told reporters in Panaji that the Goa Police has done a "tremendously good investigation" in the case and have also got some clues.
"But due to the demand of people from Haryana and also Sonali Phogat's daughter, we have decided to write to the Union home ministry to hand over this case to the CBI,” Sawant said.
Phogat, a former Tik Tok star and a contestant on the reality TV show Bigg Boss, was brought dead to a hospital in North Goa on August 23, a day after arriving in the coastal state with two of her male aides.
The police have so far arrested five people in connection with the case including the associates -- Sudhir Sagwan and Sukhwinder Singh.
The police also arrested Dattaprasad Gaonkar, who had allegedly provided drugs to Sagwan and Singh who fed them to her.
Edwin Nunes, the other arrested man, is the owner of Curlies restaurant in North Goa district where Phogat and her aides had partied on that night.
Rama Mandrekar, a resident of Anjuna in north Goa and alleged drug-peddler, was also arrested by the police in the case. He had allegedly supplied the drugs to Gaonkar.
Phogat was administered methamphetamine, and some left-over drug was recovered from the restaurant's washroom, Deputy Superintendent of Police Jivba Dalvi had said.
CCTV footage from the restaurant also emerged on social media. In one video, Phogat can be seen dancing with Sagwan. Sagwan is also purportedly seen forcing her to drink water which she instantly spits out.
Another video shows Phogat being escorted out of the restaurant by the accused. She is seen staggering and almost falling near the staircase on her way out.
The police had said Sagwan and Singh allegedly mixed some "obnoxious substance" in the water and forced Phogat to drink it.
The doctors said she had had a heart attack, but her brother alleged that Sagwan and Singh played a role in her death.
The arrests were made and a First Information Report for murder was registered after the autopsy report said there were multiple "blunt force injuries" on her body.
Phogat's family on Monday welcomed the Centre's decision to have the CBI probe her death.
Rinku Phogat, brother of Sonali Phogat, said, "Our family has been demanding a CBI investigation in this matter right from the start."
He said the family suspects a "conspiracy" behind her death and only a CBI probe can bring the truth out.
Notably, on Sunday in Hisar, the 'Sarv Jatiya Khap Mahapanchayat' had given an ultimatum to the government to recommend a CBI probe into the case by September 23 or else they will start a mass agitation.
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had on Sunday said in Gurugram that the Haryana government also wants a CBI inquiry into this case.
Phogat's family had earlier met the chief minister.
The Goa police has also visited Haryana's Hisar, Rohtak and Gurugram in connection with the case.
