Pune Realtor Murdered by Fiancée and Her Partner, Staged as Accident

Pune realtor Ketan Agrawal's murder

Pune: CCTV footage showing a man wearing a hoodie in peak summer and trailing a couple gave investigators the clue that untangled a 25-year-old Pune realtor’s June 18 murder after his fiancée had everyone at home believe he “accidentally” fell to his death from Lohagad Fort while posing for a picture. Siya Goyal (20) and the man in the hoodie, her alleged partner Chetan Chaudhary (22), were arrested on Tuesday and charged with pushing Agarwal off a cliff after police learnt the suspects were in a relationship and had allegedly made two previous abortive attempts to stage a fatal accident, once at the same site. Goyal had told Agarwal’s family and police that he fell into a 300-foot-deep gorge while posing for a photograph at Lohagad Fort near Lonavla, around 52km from the city. Subsequent investigations, including her call logs, exposed her lie, police said. Sandeep Singh Gill, superintendent of police (Pune Rural), on Tuesday said, “We have arrested Goyal of Market Yard and her partner, Chetan Chaudhary (22), of Kondhwa under sections 103 (murder) and 61 (criminal conspiracy) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).”

Siya Goyal

They were on Tuesday presented before a Wadgaon Maval court, which remanded them into police custody till June 29. According to Gill, Agarwal and Goyal got engaged in Feb and were set to marry soon. “Both families had planned to celebrate Goyal’s birthday on June 19. Investigations, however, revealed that Goyal did not want to celebrate the day with him and his family, and was looking for a way out of the relationship,” he said. What followed, the police said, was a calculated plan. On June 18, just a day before her birthday, Goyal insisted on a trek to Lohagad Fort with Agarwal. They left Gahunje around 8.30am and reached the foothills within an hour, where Chaudhary was already waiting. “CCTV footage revealed a suspicious figure in a hoodie, unusual in the sweltering heat, trailing them. That figure turned out to be Goyal’s partner Chaudhary,” the police said. At a secluded cliff edge, the plan reached its deadly conclusion. “As they reached the edge, both Goyal and Chaudhary pushed Agarwal into the 350-foot gorge,” Gill said. In the hours that followed, Goyal played her part convincingly. She alerted family members and locals, maintaining that it was a tragic accident. Security personnel, along with Shivdurga Mitra Lonavla and the Lonavla Rural police, recovered the body and sent it for postmortem. Initially, the case was treated as an accidental death and registered accordingly.

Chetan Chaudhary

On her birthday on June 19, Goyal even posted an emotional tribute to Agarwal on social media. Along with a video featuring him, the post drew sympathy from friends and relatives. Agarwal’s family, however, refused to believe he could have slipped so easily. “The family told us that he was an experienced trekker and doubted the accidental fall theory,” Gill said. By then, the police had already started exploring possible motives, including personal and financial angles. Further inquiry revealed that Goyal was in a relationship with another man. “Call detail records and location data revealed constant contact between Goyal and Chaudhary. Further inquiry confirmed that Goyal was in a relationship with him even while engaged to Agarwal,” Gill said, adding that the two were subsequently taken into custody on Monday. “During sustained questioning, they confessed to the murder,” he said. The CCTV trail further tightened the case. Footage captured Chaudhary at multiple points along the fort route, his face partially concealed by a hoodie, Gill said. Belonging to a prominent business family, Gahunje resident Agarwal had joined the family’s real estate business as a director after completing his studies abroad.