Ketan Agarwal Murder Lohagad Fort Siya Goyal Signal Police Probe

The Pune Rural Police probe into the alleged murder of 25-year-old Ketan Agarwal at Lohagad Fort has revealed that his fiancée, Siya Goyal (20), gave a pre-decided signal by sitting down on the ground, prompting her alleged lover, Chetan Chaudhary (22), to push Ketan off a cliff, leading to his death.

Siya and Chetan were arrested on June 23 after police pieced together what they described as a meticulously planned conspiracy. According to investigators, Siya and Ketan got engaged on February 19 and were scheduled to marry later this year. However, Siya, who had allegedly been in a relationship with Chetan since October last year, did not want to marry Ketan.

The two accused have been remanded to police custody till June 29 and are being questioned. Investigators have also recorded statements of Siya’s family members.

Police claim Siya had earlier sabotaged the couple’s planned pre-wedding shoot in Bali by stealing Ketan’s passport and later discarding it in the washroom of a food mall on the Pune-Mumbai Expressway. Investigators further alleged that she took Ketan to Lohagad Fort on May 31 and June 14 before returning with him on June 18, when she and Chetan allegedly executed the murder by pushing him off the western cliff. They also said Siya had tried to persuade Ketan to visit the fort on June 4, but the trip was cancelled after his mother objected.

An officer associated with the investigation said, “Our probe suggests that Siya and Chetan had agreed on a signal after which Chetan was to push Ketan off the cliff. The signal was Siya sitting down on the ground. When Siya and Ketan reached the spot, Chetan was already there and maintained some distance to avoid arousing suspicion. At one point, when Siya sat down, Chetan approached from behind and pushed Ketan off the cliff.”

“Probe suggests there was a specific reason behind the signal. There was a possibility that when Ketan was pushed, he could catch hold of Siya for support. So the signal involved her sitting down and that too at a distance from Ketan. This further indicates that it was a premeditated murder carried out as part of a planned conspiracy,” the officer added

Officials said Ketan’s family had alleged that Siya had also tried to push him off a cliff during the couple’s visit to Lohagad Fort on May 31. The family claimed Ketan managed to grab hold of a bush, following which Siya said she had seen a snake and had pushed him aside to save him.

On Sunday morning, Pune Rural Police recreated the crime scene at Lohagad Fort. During the reconstruction, Siya was taken to the spot where she and Chetan are accused of pushing Ketan. She was asked to retrace their movements from the time they reached the fort, identify the route they took, point out the exact location where Ketan was allegedly pushed, and explain the sequence of events before and after the incident.

During interrogation, the two accused allegedly attempted to shift blame onto each other. While Chaudhary claimed he wanted to elope with Goyal and that the murder plot was her idea, Goyal maintained that the conspiracy was Chaudhary’s and alleged that he broke down after they failed to kill Agarwal during their June 14 visit to the fort.

Sushant Kulkarni is a Special Correspondent with The Indian Express in Pune with 12+ years of experience covering issues related to Crime, Defence, Internal Security and Courts. He has been associated with the Indian Express since July 2010. Sushant has extensively reported on law and order issues of Pune and surrounding area, Cyber crime, narcotics trade and terrorism. His coverage in the Defence beat includes operational aspects of the three services, the defence research and development and issues related to key defence establishments. He has covered several sensitive cases in the courts at Pune. Sushant is an avid photographer, plays harmonica and loves cooking. ... Read More