Ketan Agarwal’s death at Pune’s Lohagarh Fort was initially treated as an accident, but the hoodie-wearing suspect, call records and digital evidence revealed the alleged murder conspiracy.
Ketan Agrawal Murder Case: That morning of June 18, 2026 was very typical at the historic Lohagarh Fort of Lonavala. The tourists were enjoying the valleys amidst the scorching heat of 33 degree Celsius and bright sunshine. In this crowd, real estate businessman Ketan Aggarwal (26) had come to celebrate the birthday of his fiancee Siya Goyal (20). A few hours later, news came that Ketan’s foot slipped and he fell into a 400 feet deep ditch. There were tears in Siya’s eyes and the police had considered it an ‘accidental death’ and were preparing to close the file. But then the investigating officers noticed a strange thing which turned the whole story upside down. Why would a person wear a black hoodie from head to toe in the scorching heat of the month of June? This single clue exposed the horrifying truth, the conspiracy of which was being hatched for months.
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Temperature of 33 degrees and that mysterious shadow captured in CCTV
During the initial investigation, the police started scanning the footage of CCTV cameras installed at the ticket counter of the fort. In the footage, Ketan and Siya were seen moving forward together, but then a strange shadow was seen on the screen. A boy wearing shorts and hoodie was continuously following the couple. He had pulled the cap of the hoodie so low on his face that it was impossible to see his face, and on top of that he was wearing a headset. The investigation became more concrete when a footage showed that Siya suddenly looks back and on seeing her, the boy in the hoodie immediately sits down. When the police took out the records from the meteorological department, they found out that it was extremely hot there that day. This craze of wearing a hoodie to hide his face in such sunlight transformed the police’s suspicion into confidence that he was not an ordinary tourist but a hunter.
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Web of digital evidence: The mystery of thousands of calls and ‘missing’ phones
After this CCTV clue, Pune Rural Police started technical analysis. When Siya Goyal’s call detail records (CDR) were extracted, investigators were stunned. Thousands of calls were made from Sia’s phone to a boy named Chetan Babulal Chaudhary (22), many of which were hours long. When the height and physique of the boy in the hoodie were matched with the pictures of his social media profile, it became clear that the person stalking him was Chetan. Before going to Lohagarh, Chetan, like a vicious criminal, had left his mobile at his shop so that the police could not find his location. He had also kept his internet switched off from 7 am to 5:40 pm. At the time of the incident, the employees of his shop were answering the calls coming to his number, so that his ‘alba’ (strong alibi) was ready. He had reached the fort secretly, taking an employee’s phone with him.
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From engagement to ditch… three failed attempts at death
Investigation revealed that the engagement of Ketan and Siya took place in February this year and their grand wedding was going to take place in a palace in Udaipur in November. But Siya was against this marriage. She was in love with Chetan Choudhary, a resident of Kondhwa. During interrogation, Chetan told that Siya was not in favor of breaking the engagement or running away, because she was afraid that this would bring bad name to her family in the society. Therefore, both of them decided to remove Ketan from the way. During interrogation of Ketan’s family and his sister Sanjana, it was revealed that Siya was continuously pressurizing Ketan to go to Lohagarh Fort for the last few days. According to police:
- 31 May: Sia had taken Ketan to Lohagarh for the first time so that Reiki could be done.
- June 4: She wanted to go there again, but Ketan’s mother stopped her.
- June 14: Siya had allegedly pushed Ketan off a rock, but Ketan managed to catch hold of a bush. When Ketan asked what it was, Siya pretended that she had saved Ketan’s life by making a ‘snake-snake’ noise.
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The last chapter of the bloody conspiracy
Finally, on June 18, the last bet of this bloody game was played. When Siya and Ketan reached the point of the fort where the moat was the deepest, Chetan Chaudhary approached them from behind. Taking the opportunity, Siya and Chetan together pushed Ketan from behind into a 400 feet deep ditch. Ketan died tragically on the spot. After this Siya called the police and told that it was an accident due to strong winds. On June 19, the rescue team recovered Ketan’s body after a very difficult operation. Currently, acting under the leadership of Pune Rural Police Superintendent Sandeep Singh Gill, both Siya and Chetan have been arrested and sent behind the bars for murder and criminal conspiracy under the Indian Code of Justice (BNS). The murderer fiancee, who took the life of an innocent person to save her false pride, will now end up in the clutches of the law.