Ketan Agarwal murder: Accused Siya Goyal and her boyfriend ran online searches on murder methods, exchanged 2,000 calls

What was initially reported as a trekking accident at Lohagad Fort has now been exposed as a premeditated murder case. Investigators say explicit online searches related to killing methods and a record of 2,004 phone calls have uncovered a planned conspiracy. Police allege that Ketan Agarwal was deliberately killed, with his fiancée Siya Goel and her boyfriend Chetan Chaudhary accused of orchestrating the crime.

The Pune Rural Police revealed that Goyal and Chaudhary spent roughly 238 hours speaking on the phone over the last six months to plan the murder of Goyal’s fiancé, 26-year-old real-estate businessman Ketan Agarwal. Technical and forensic analysis of their mobile phones further showed both accused repeatedly searched online for methods to kill Ketan before pushing him into a 400-foot gorge on June 18.

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A web of secrecy and societal pressure

Agarwal, a director in his family's prominent real-estate firm, Success Group, got engaged to Goyal in February. Their grand wedding was scheduled for November in Udaipur, with luxury palace hotels and two private aircraft already booked for the multi-crore event. Goyal also belongs to a wealthy, high-profile business family in Pune.

However, investigators state that Goyal was secretly in a relationship with Chaudhary, who runs a local business in Kondhwa. Facing intense societal and family pressure, Goyal allegedly believed that she could not back out of the high-society arranged marriage or elope without ruining her family's reputation.

Multiple pre-wedding murder plots exposed

The investigation revealed that pushing Agarwal off the cliff on June 18 was the culmination of multiple desperate attempts on his life.

Before the incident, the couple was scheduled to travel to Bali for a pre-wedding photoshoot. Ketan’s passport mysteriously vanished at Mumbai Airport, forcing them to cancel the trip. Police allege Goyal purposefully hid or disposed of the passport because an international trip would disrupt their timeline.

On June 14, Siya took Ketan to Lohagad Fort for a recce. She allegedly tried to push him off the edge, but Ketan managed to save himself by catching onto a nearby bush. When he questioned what happened, Siya raised a false alarm about a snake, claiming she had merely tried to shield him.

Hours before the murder on June 18, CCTV footage captured Goyal and Chaudhary meeting at a local cafe to finalise their execution strategy.

The 'hoodie in summer' clue that cracked the alibi

To evade tracking, Chaudhary left his personal mobile phone at his shop on June 18, intentionally disconnecting his internet from 7:00 am to 5:40 pm to create an alibi. He carried an employee’s phone to coordinate with Siya while stalking the couple at the fort.

However, the plot fell apart due to CCTV footage at the fort's ticket counter. Investigators spotted a man closely trailing Ketan and Siya who was wearing a heavy hoodie and a headset despite the sweltering 33°C heat.

CCTV footage minutely caught Siya glancing back every two to three minutes to signal the hooded man. When confronted with this technical evidence and testimony from shop workers who answered his shop phone on his behalf, Chaudhary's alibi shattered.

Both Goyal and Chaudhary have been arrested and remanded to police custody. They face charges of murder and criminal conspiracy under Sections 103 and 61(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).