A court  sent Siya Goyal and Chetan Chaudhary, the two accused in the murder of realtor Ketan Agarwal, to 14-day judicial custody after they refused to undergo a polygraph test.

The court ruled that the lie detector test could not be conducted without the consent of the accused. Following the order, both Siya and Chetan were shifted to Yerawada Central Prison.

Murder probe began after death initially treated as accident

Ketan Agarwal (25), a director of a real estate company, died after falling from a cliff at Lohagad in Maharashtra’s Maval taluka on June 18.

The case was initially registered as an accidental death. However, the investigation later took a new turn after police claimed the fall was part of a planned murder involving Siya Goyal and Chetan Chaudhary.

The two were arrested on June 23 and had been in police custody until July 3.

Police allege that Siya gave a pre-decided signal to Chetan moments before Ketan was pushed off the cliff.

Police recover deleted data and probe possible third accused

During Friday’s hearing, the Lonavla Rural Police informed the court that deleted data recovered from the accused’s mobile phones had revealed evidence of coded conversations.

Investigators told the court they are now examining whether a third person may have been involved in planning or carrying out the alleged murder.

Police also said they recovered a second mobile phone that was allegedly hidden by Siya. The device is expected to be sent for forensic examination.

According to investigators, the analysis of the recovered digital evidence is still in progress, and decoding the conversations may help uncover the full extent of the alleged conspiracy.

Police collect more evidence during investigation

Investigating Officer Assistant Police Inspector Manoj Pawar informed the court that police had verified the sequence of events described by Chetan and seized the trousers he was allegedly wearing during the incident.

Investigators also conducted a panchnama at the location where Siya allegedly threw away her passport and seized the clothes she was reportedly wearing at the time of the crime.

In addition, police completed a panchnama at the site where the accused are believed to have rehearsed the alleged murder plan.

Defence opposes further police custody

Assistant Public Prosecutor Rajshree Virkud argued that significant progress had been made during police custody. She said the coded language used by the accused could provide crucial evidence about the possible involvement of another person.

However, Siya’s lawyer Vipul Dushing opposed any extension of police custody, arguing that both mobile phones had already been seized and there was no justification for continued custodial interrogation solely to decode conversations.

He maintained that investigators should rely on their own expertise to analyse the recovered data.

Appearing for co-accused Chetan Chaudhary, advocate Ram Shahane also opposed the police plea, stating that the request for a face-to-face interrogation of the accused lacked sufficient grounds.