Ketan Agarwal case: Siya Goyal’s brother gets ₹10 cr defamation notice from her lawyer

In a fresh twist in the murder case of Pune-based realtor Ketan Agarwal, advocate Aashutosh Srivastava has sent a defamation notice to Sahil Goyal, the brother of the prime accused, Siya Goyal, accusing him of making false and defamatory allegations that harmed his professional reputation.

Srivastava has sought ₹10 crore in damages and compensation, while asking Sahil to withdraw the allegations, issue a public apology and give a written assurance that he will not repeat such statements. The dispute over legal representation unfolded alongside the ongoing murder investigation. On Monday, Srivastava appeared before the Vadgaon Maval court claiming to represent Siya and submitted a Vakalatnama purportedly bearing her signature.

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However, Siya told the court that advocate Vipul Dushing, and not Srivastava, was her lawyer. Her family also reiterated that Dushing had been officially appointed to represent her. At the same time, police continued to seek custodial interrogation of Siya and Chaudhary in connection with Agarwal's death.

The notice followed Sahil Goyal's interview with India Today TV, in which he denied that the Goyal family had engaged Srivastava's services and suggested that the advocate may have used deception to obtain Siya's signature on certain legal papers. Ahead of the hearing as well, Sahil had publicly alleged that Srivastava was neither authorised nor appointed by the family to represent Siya. He said the family had appointed advocate Vipul Dushing and had filed an affidavit before the court to that effect. Sahil further alleged that Srivastava may have obtained Siya's signature "by deceit" and accused him of issuing threats to the family.

According to the legal notice, Srivastava described Sahil's statements as "false, baseless, defamatory and misleading" and said they had caused serious harm to his professional reputation. Responding to the controversy, Srivastava said his legal team had approached Siya directly and that she had voluntarily authorised them to represent her.

"Our team met Siya Goyal. She required legal assistance, so she signed the Vakalatnama in our favour. Siya Goyal is an adult and is fully capable of making her own decisions. Sahil Goyal's statement is incorrect because we never spoke to him; we dealt directly with Siya. She spoke to us and executed a Vakalatnama in our favour, valid up to the Bombay High Court. The document bears her signature," Srivastava said.

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Police have alleged that 20-year-old Siya conspired with her 22-year-old boyfriend, Chaudhary, to kill Agarwal because she did not want to marry him and believed calling off the wedding would bring disrepute to her family. Both have been arrested on charges of conspiring to murder the realtor by pushing him off a cliff at Lohagad Fort in Pune district. The case now involves both the murder investigation and a dispute over legal representation, with Srivastava seeking damages from Sahil even as police press ahead with their case against Siya and Chaudhary.