The legal battle in the Ketan Agarwal murder case has taken a turn with confusion growing over who represents the main accused Siya Goyal.
A day after Ashutosh Srivastava called out publicly She defended Sia Goyal and questioned the evidence of her alleged confession while in police custody, with another lawyer claiming to be her legal representative.
Siya’s brother Goyal also denied appointing Srivastava at all.
“We never appointed him (advocate Ashutosh Srivastava) and he is not someone we appointed from our family. I don’t know anything about what he is claiming,” Sahil Goyal told news agency ANI.
Who is Siya Goyal’s lawyer?
Lawyer Vipul Dosheng told reporters on Monday that he would appear with his team Sia Goyal is in the case.
“We are representing Sia in this case. As of now, there are no specific expectations; the case is still in its very preliminary stage. We will present our arguments before the court and strive hard to secure her at least police remand,” Dusheng told ANI.
Amid the confusion, advocate Priyanka Paradkar, who identified herself as a junior defense lawyer for Ashutosh Srivastava, arrived at the Lonavala police station ahead of the court proceedings on Monday.
In a brief interview with reporters, she refused to comment on the case, saying: “Today is the date of the hearing. Before the hearing, we cannot say anything.”
Srivastava championed Sia’s case
On Sunday, lawyer Ashutosh Srivastava spoke to the media as Siya Goyal’s counsel. He said any confession made while the accused is in police custody cannot be treated as admissible evidence under the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhinyam (BSA) Act.
Read also | In Lohagad Fort, the police piece together the murder sequence of Ketan Agarwal with Siya
He said the defense will challenge the prosecution on that point and also questions why investigators turned away from treatment to begin with Ketan Agarwal’s death as an accident is being pursued as a murder case.
Srivastava said that too Goyal cooperated with the investigation and said the prosecution had already received sufficient police custody to complete its interrogation.
According to him, the defense will seek judicial custody of Goyal instead of any other police remand.
Police reenact the crime scene
The dispute over legal representation comes a day after the Pune Rural Police Siya Goyal took to Lohagad Fort to relive the events of her fiancé Ketan Agarwal’s death on June 18.
According to investigators, Goyal allegedly demonstrated how she signaled to co-accused Chetan Chaudhary to sit down, either by pretending to drink water or tying her shoelaces, before Chaudhary pushed Agarwal off the cliff.
Read also | Sia met Chetan through her brother: Cricket’s connection to Murder in Pune Fort
Police claim the gesture was to ensure Goyal remained out of Agarwal’s reach during the fatal push.
Investigators also claimed so Chaudhary traveled nearly 90 kilometers to the fort on a motorcycle instead of a car to avoid toll plaza records. He also reportedly removed his hoodie and later put it back on to avoid recognition.
The police claimed that the two had earlier visited the fort to identify a suitable location for the crime and had even conducted a ‘training’. Officials say they are still verifying where the alleged training took place.
