Ketan Aggarwal murder case: Siya Goyals lawyer sends Rs 10 crore defamation notice to her brother
The defamation notice stems from Sahil Goyal's interview during which he denied legal representation by Aashutosh Srivastava in the high profile Ketan Aggarwal murder case.
PTC News Desk: The murder case of Pune-based realtor Ketan Aggarwal has taken a fresh turn with Advocate Aashutosh Srivastava sending a Rs 10 crore defamation notice to Sahil Goyal, brother of prime accused Siya Goyal. The notice accuses Goyal of making defamatory allegations that damaged Srivastava's professional reputation.
The defamation notice stems from Sahil Goyal's interview during which he denied legal representation by Aashutosh Srivastava in the high profile Ketan Aggarwal murder case. Adding further Sahil also suggested that Srivastava may have used deception to get Siya Goyal to sign certain legal papers.
Following the allegations, Srivastava sent a defamation notice accusing Sahil of making false claims and damaging his professional reputation. The notice demands Rs 10 crore as compensation for the damages. Srivastava claims that his team had met Siya Goyal on their own accord and had received her approval to represent her.
The dispute reached the courtroom on Monday when advocate Srivastava appeared before the Vadgaon Maval court, claiming to represent Siya and submitting a vakalatnama that he said carried her signature. However, Siya told the court that advocate Vipul Dushing was her lawyer, not Srivastava. Her family also confirmed that Dushing had been officially appointed to represent her.
Before the hearing, Sahil Goyal had publicly claimed that Srivastava had neither been authorised nor appointed by Siya's family. He said the family had appointed advocate Vipul Dushing and had submitted an affidavit to the court confirming this. Sahil also alleged that Srivastava may have obtained Siya's signature through deception and accused him of threatening the family.
In response, Srivastava sent a legal notice describing Sahil's allegations as false, baseless, defamatory and misleading. He said the statements had seriously damaged his professional reputation. The notice demands that Sahil withdraw the allegations, issue a public apology and give a written assurance that he will not repeat such claims in the future.
Addressing the controversy, Srivastava maintained that his legal team had contacted Siya directly and that she had willingly authorised them to represent her in the case.
"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 signatures," Srivastava said.