In the latest development in the murder case of Pune businessman Ketan Agarwal, advocate Aashutosh Srivastava has sent a defamation notice to Sahil Goyal, the brother of Siya Goyal, an accused in the case. Srivastava has accused Goyal of making false and defamatory allegations that damaged his professional reputation.
He had demanded ₹ 10 crore in damages from Sahil.
The development comes days after a drama unfolded on the court premises when an advocate, who identified himself as Aashutosh Shrivastav, claimed he would be representing Goyal.
After initial police custody ended, Siya Goyal and her boyfriend, co-accused in the case, were produced before the Vadgaon Maval court when Srivastav appeared on Siya's behalf.
During the hearing, confusion arose after Srivastava submitted a 'vakalatnama' purportedly bearing Siya's signature. However, Siya told the court that advocate Vipul Dushing was her lawyer. Her family also maintained that Dushing had been officially appointed to represent her.
Sahil had publicly alleged that Srivastava was never approached or appointed by the family to represent Siya. He said they had filed an affidavit before the court clarifying the issue and alleged that Srivastava obtained Siya's signature by deceit.
According to reports, Sahil also accused the advocate of issuing threats to the family.
After these allegations surfaced, Srivastava maintained that his legal team had approached Siya directly and she voluntarily authorised them to represent her. He also added that Siya is an adult and capable of making her own decisions.
He also said that Sahil's remarks were "incorrect" as his team never spoke to him and directly dealt with Siya.
Sahil is yet to issue a public response to the notice sent.
Meanwhile, police took Siya to the fort to reconstruct the crime scene using a human-sized dummy on Monday. According to the police, she sat down to signal Chaudhary to push Agarwal off the cliff.
Officials said that after allegedly committing the crime, Chaudhary returned to Pune on the same scooter, the official had said.
Last week, police questioned Siya's parents and brother at length and recorded their statements.
