“My son had never suspected anything foul. On 14 June, when my son almost fell, she screamed and said there was a snake. My son assumed there was nothing wrong…if only we knew…”
Weeks before Pune-based real estate firm director Ketan Vishal Agrawal, 26, plunged nearly 400 feet to his death at Lohagad Fort on June 18, there were at least two moments that, in hindsight, his family believes should have raised alarm. Neither did. Police now say both were tied to a conspiracy hatched by his own fiancée, Siya Goyal (20), and her alleged lover, Chetan Chaudhary (22), to kill him.
Sabotaged Bali Trip Plan
The first sign came in the form of a passport that mysteriously went missing. Siya and Ketan, both from prominent Pune business families, had a pre-wedding photoshoot scheduled in Bali just weeks before his death.
However, the trip was cancelled at the last minute, after Ketan discovered his passport was missing at Mumbai airport, despite all travel documents being kept together in a single pouch.
The victim’s father, Vishal Agrawal, in retrospect, hinted that the missing passport may not have been a coincidence. However, at the time, it looked like nothing more than bad luck.
“They were supposed to go from Mumbai to Bali, Indonesia, on June 6 for a pre-wedding shoot. While leaving home, only four people were in the car: my daughter, my son, Siya, and Siya’s brother, Sahil. Everyone checked their passports while sitting in the car, and all the passports, currency, credit cards, driving licences, etc., were kept in a single pouch. That pouch was in the car itself,” the victim’s father claimed.
“They stopped at a food mall. At the food mall, Siya said she forgot her mobile and went back to the car to get it. After arriving at the airport, everyone had their passports except Ketan. Only Ketan’s passport got stolen. Because of that, he couldn’t go and had to return from the airport,” the victim’s father claimed.
(Note: These allegations are based on the statements made by Ketan Agrawal’s family and findings cited by investigators. The matter remains subject to police investigation and judicial proceedings.)
Same Place, Same Plan, But A Failed Attempt
The second, far more chilling warning came on 14 June, four days before Ketan’s death. Siya allegedly took him to the same fort where he would later die, intending to push him into the gorge. That attempt failed. According to Ketan’s father, his son had no idea anything was wrong. When Ketan nearly fell that day, Siya screamed and claimed she had spotted a snake nearby, then hugged him. As per reports, Vishal said that his son “never suspected anything foul” after that moment and simply assumed nothing was wrong.
Four days later, on 18 June, there would be no second escape. Police allege Siya persuaded Ketan — a trekker and businessman with degrees from Symbiosis and Babson College in the US — to visit Lohagad Fort again. This time, Chetan Chaudhary was also present at the location. Ketan fell nearly 400 feet into the gorge. Siya called the police herself, claiming he had slipped while taking photographs in strong winds, and the death was initially recorded as accidental.
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But cracks in that story emerged quickly. Police said multiple inconsistencies prompted a deeper probe, with teams examining financial disputes and personal relationships connected to the case. That’s when investigators allegedly uncovered Siya’s relationship with Chaudhary — and the motive: she did not want to marry Ketan and saw him as an obstacle to being with Chaudhary.
“We also thought it was an accident. But when the police came with his body, Siya didn’t show any reaction. When a woman’s fiance or husband dies, she feels sad, but there was no such sadness in her behaviour. This was the first thing that bothered us, but since we had to go to the hospital, we didn’t pay much attention to it,” the victim’s father claimed.
A check of call records and locations brought both Siya and Chaudhary in for questioning, where police say they eventually admitted to pushing Ketan off the cliff. CCTV footage from the fort reportedly showed a hooded figure climbing it around the time of the incident.
A case of murder and criminal conspiracy has now been registered at Lonavala rural police station under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, following a complaint by Ketan’s father.
A Grieving Family
For Ketan’s family, the hardest part isn’t just the loss — it’s the realisation that the warning signs were there all along. According to reports citing Ketan’s father, Siya’s own family knew about her relationship with Chaudhary but pushed for the marriage anyway, believing the Agrawals were the better match.
“If she didn’t want to get married, she could have simply refused; we would have cancelled the wedding immediately. Why did they decide to take such a drastic step? What kind of mindset do they have? Their mindset is so cruel that someone’s 26-year-old son could be killed…Society needs to take note of such a cruel mindset. Where does this ideology come from, their family, their upbringing?…,” Vishal told ANI.
He said the families had known each other for over three decades and had never seen anything suspicious in that time. Investigators say the probe is ongoing, with officers working to establish the full timeline, gather forensic evidence, and determine whether anyone else was involved in the alleged conspiracy.