Pune, June 28: Counsel for accused Siya Goyal in the Ketan Agarwal murder case has said the defence will challenge the admissibility of any alleged confession made while in police custody and question the investigating agency's decision to treat the case as murder after initially considering it an accidental death.
Advocate Aashutosh Srivastava, representing Siya Goyal, said the defence would rely on provisions of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA), which govern the admissibility of confessions made during police custody.
He stated that under Section 23 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, a confession made by an accused while in police custody or detention, particularly if obtained under pressure or threat, cannot be treated as admissible evidence in a criminal trial.
"The defence will certainly raise this issue during the proceedings. If the prosecution has any independent corroborative evidence, it is free to present it during the trial. However, the investigation is still underway and the charge sheet has not yet been filed," Srivastava said.
The defence also plans to highlight the allegations contained in the FIR, the progress of the investigation, and Siya Goyal's cooperation throughout the inquiry.
According to Srivastava, the prosecution has already been granted sufficient police custody to question the accused and gather evidence, leaving no justification for seeking further custodial interrogation.
"We will argue that our client has fully cooperated with the investigation and that adequate time has already been provided to the police for interrogation and evidence collection. There is no need for any further custodial remand," he said.
Srivastava further questioned the investigating agency's decision to alter its approach from treating the incident as an accidental death to pursuing murder charges.
"Our submissions will focus on the circumstances that led investigators to change the nature of the case. From the defence's perspective, there is no concrete basis for prosecuting this matter as a murder case. We will present these arguments before the court and seek judicial custody for our client so that the legal process can continue," he added.
Earlier in the day, Pune Police took accused Siya Goyal and co-accused Chetan Chaudhary to Lohagad Fort near Pune to recreate the alleged crime scene. Investigators used a dummy matching the victim Ketan Agarwal's weight to reconstruct the sequence of events.
Deputy Superintendent of Police Gajanan Tompe said the reconstruction was carried out based on Siya Goyal's account of the incident.
"This morning, we brought Siya Goyal to the location, and the scene was reconstructed according to her version of events. A dummy matching the victim Ketan's weight was used during the reconstruction," Tompe told .
Visuals from the site showed police escorting the accused through different sections of Lohagad Fort as part of the ongoing investigation.
