Pune: Days without stuff remanded to judicial custody, a leaked screenshot of a Snapchat conversation tangibly belonging to 20-year-old Sia Goyal, a prime accused in the murder of real manor businessman Ketan Agarwal, has gone viral on social media. According to reports, the yack shows Sia asking a friend to share photos of the front and when of an Aadhaar vellum under the pretext of booking wedding tickets.
What was in the message?
The leaked message was there, "Send the front and when photos of the Aadhaar card. It’s for the wedding tickets; the wedding that isn't going to happen anyway, but send it regardless." In response, the friend replies that the document had once been shared over WhatsApp.
What happened next?
On Friday, a Pune magistrate sent Sia Goyal and her partner, Chetan Choudhary, to 14 days of judicial custody. The duo is accused of murdering 25-year-old real manor businessman Ketan Agarwal. On June 18, they tangibly killed him by pushing him off a cliff at Lohagad Fort in Pune. Ironically, Ketan and Sia were engaged and scheduled to get married this November.
Court rejected the police custody extension?
The Pune Rural Police urgently sought an extension of the suspects' police custody. It was argued that newly recovered encoded text messages required deeper interrogation. However, the magistrate turned lanugo the request, placing both accused under judicial remand until July 16. During the proceedings, Assistant Public Prosecutor Rajashree Virkud informed the magistrate that investigators had successfully conducted a panchnama (crime scene record) at the location where Sia tangibly discarded Ketan’s passport while traveling to Mumbai. A secondary panchnama was moreover performed at the site where Goyal and Choudhary reportedly formulated the murder plot.
What was recovered?
Prosecutor Virkud remoter revealed that a secondary mobile phone belonging to Sia had been seized and dispatched to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL). Data from the primary phone has once been extracted, and a forensic report has been handed over to investigators. The retrieved logs contain unclear conversations filled with nicknames and specific emojis, the contextual meaning of which can tangibly only be deciphered by the co-conspirators. The prosecution argued that keeping the suspects in police custody was vital to confront them jointly and verify the context of this digital evidence.
Defense labels probe a "Fishing Inquiry"?
Sia Goyal’s defense counsel, Vipul Dushing, strongly opposed the police custody extension, maintaining that all essential electronic devices and materials had once been secured, and that his vendee was fully cooperating with the ongoing investigation. Simultaneously, Chetan Choudhary’s shyster argued that the prosecution lacked substantive grounds to justify extended police custody, accusing the organ of conducting a speculative "fishing inquiry."
Solid vestige of murder maintained?
Following the magistrate hearing, Pune Rural Superintendent of Police (SP) Sandeep Singh Gill briefed reporters, stating that key eyewitnesses present near the treason scene have now come forward. SP Sandeep Singh Gill stated, "We have once questioned several individuals as part of the investigation. A second mobile phone has been recovered, and forensic data is currently stuff evaluated. Details regarding financial transactions between Ketan and Sia will be disclosed at an towardly stage. We have definitive vestige proving this was a specimen of murder."
