Love ends in horror: Cops arrest fiancée, boyfriend for plotting Pune businessman's murder at Lohagad fort

FIve years after Pune man of affairs Ketan Vishal Agarwal’s demise was registered as an inadvertent come during a trek, investigators have arrested his 20-year-old fiancée and her boyfriend for pushing Agarwal down a 400- foot-high gorge at the Lohagad Fort, with the intent to kill him.Agarwal, 25, was a director in his family firm, Success Group, which is one of the largest developers of warehouses across Maharashtra. He returned to Pune in 2023 after his Master’s degree from the FW Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College at Wellesley, Massachusetts, to join the family business. In February this year he got engaged to Siya Goyal, 20, with his maternal uncle playing matchmaker. Goyal too comes from an affluent business family in Pune. But unknown to the Agarwals, she was in love with Chetan Chaudhary, 22, whose family runs a business in the same business district as Goyal’s father.Also read | How fiancee, lover conspired to kill Pune man in Lohagad fort after 'failing first attempt'Agarwal and Goyal were set to wed in November this year for which hotels had been booked at Udaipur. On June 18th however, Sia insisted that Ketan Agarwal take her for a hike to Lohagad Fort as present for her 20th birthday the following day and that she would be waiting for him near Kiwale Bridge on the Pune-Mumbai Highway. At 10.45 am her mother called his family to say that Ketan had slipped down a gorge at Lohagad while taking photographs. “Initially we registered an accidental death report, but during the probe certain details and family statements made us rethink the investigation,” said Pune Rural Superintendent of Police Sandip Singh Gill.Ketan Agarwal, he said, was a regular trekker at Lohagad and was well-versed with the terrain. The Agarwal family too in their statement raised certain suspicions about Siya after which the police examined her phone and looked at other forensic details. It quickly emerged that she and Chetan Chaudhary were in a relationship for over a year, and tried in many ways to convey her reluctance to marry Ketan Agarwal.Also read | New twist in Pune man's death during Lohagad trek as fiancée, friend held for 'murder' | Key detailsEarlier this month Ketan and she were to go to Bali for a pre-wedding photoshoot which was aborted when the couple reached Mumbai airport and found that Ketan’s passport was missing. Investigations after his death revealed that Siya had hidden his passport to avoid the trip. Then again, four days prior to his death, the couple had gone for a trek to Lohagad where she pushed Ketan saying she had spotted a snake and was trying to save him. On June 18, Siya once again insisted that they go for a trek ahead of her birthday on June 19. “Through Call Record Data we managed to figure out that Chetan Chaudhary was also at Lohagad at the same time that Ketan and Siya were there,” said SP Gill. He claimed the two accused have confessed to the killing which is reminiscent of last year’s ‘honeymoon killing’ of Indore resident Raja Raghuvanshi in the forests of Meghalaya.Ketan Agarwal’s father Vishal Agarwal, 46, told HT that his son had raised concerns about Siya’s behaviour, which the family had overlooked.“After the engagement in February, Ketan and Siya met frequently and went out together. At times, Ketan expressed concerns about Siya, and asked us whether we had properly verified her antecedents. But as her family was related to us through our extended family network, I reassured him that everything was fine,” he said.Agarwal said the young couple would often quarrel over minor issue, and that Siya was always on her phone. Ketan, he said, had also mentioned Chetan Chaudhary’s name to him raising doubts about a possible relationship with Siya. “We thought about delaying the wedding because she was so young but her parents insisted that we go ahead with it as they would not find a match like my son,” he added.The two accused have been booked for murder and conspiracy under sections 103 and 61(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), and taken into custody.