A court is hearing a police plea for the custody of Siya Goyal and Chetan Chaudhary in the Ketan Agarwal murder case [1].

The request is critical because investigators believe digital evidence holds the key to the crime. Access to the accused may allow police to recover deleted communications that could establish a motive, or a timeline of events leading to the death.

According to the police, the investigation currently focuses on two primary pieces of evidence: deleted chat messages and the final phone call made by the victim, Ketan Agarwal [1]. Authorities said that the suspects possess the means to unlock or provide context for these encrypted or erased conversations.

Siya Goyal and Chetan Chaudhary are the primary accused in the case [1]. The probe has already looked into a potential cricket-related link between the two individuals as part of the wider investigation into how they met and coordinated their actions [1].

The police custody plea seeks to move the suspects from judicial custody back into police control. This transition is often necessary for forensic recovery of data from mobile devices, and for conducting face-to-face interrogations regarding the victim's last moments.

Legal representatives for the accused are expected to argue against the plea, while the prosecution said the urgency of retrieving the deleted data is paramount before it is permanently lost or overwritten [1].

“Police are seeking custody of the accused to probe deleted chat messages.”

The police request for custody indicates that the physical evidence gathered so far is insufficient to close the case. By focusing on deleted chats and the final phone call, investigators are attempting to reconstruct the digital footprint of the suspects to prove premeditation and coordination in the murder of Ketan Agarwal.