Ditched Car For Scooter, A Codeword: Siya Goyal, Lover's Murder Plan

Siya Goyal's lover, Chetan Chaudhary, chose a scooter over a car to drive to Lohagad Fort in Pune, the investigation has found. Chetan did so to avoid toll plazas and being caught on CCTV, the sources said. The vehicle has now been seized.

Siya and Chetan are accused of pushing her fiance, Ketan Agarwal, to death from a cliff at the fort.

The investigation into the murder of Ketan Agarwal, 26, has revealed that Siya and Chetan had finalised the murder plan weeks in advance, reportedly by the end of May.

To evade electronic records at toll plazas and CCTV tracking, the co-accused, Chetan, traveled to the fort on a scooter instead of a car. He returned to Pune on the same scooter to dodge the police.

Chetan Chaudhary

To cover his face, Chetan wore a hoodie during a hike at the fort. But the same hoodie gave him away to the police.

Also Read | 'She Was Forced Into Car': Cab Driver Who Drove Siya Goyal To Mumbai Airport

According to the police, the CCTV footage showed Ketan and his fiancee Siya Goyal walking together at the fort. Another man, identified as Chetan, was following them from a close distance of around 20 to 30 feet. He was seen wearing shorts and a hoodie that covered his face. He was also wearing a headset over the hoodie.

It was 33 degrees Celsius at the time per the CCTV footage. Why would anyone wear a hoodie during a hike in the scorching heat? The police wondered and probed the person.

The two accused in the Ketan Agarwal murder had visited Lohagad Fort to select the location for the murder and had even conducted a rehearsal, the sources said.

A codeword "baithna" (to sit) was agreed upon between Siya and Chetan to signal the moment Ketan was to be pushed into the deep gorge.

As part of the plan, Siya was to crouch down in front of Ketan -- under the pretext of drinking water or tying her shoelaces -- which would serve as the final signal for Chetan to launch the attack, the source said.

This move was also to ensure Ketan could not grab Siya in a desperate attempt to save himself from falling.

The two accused allegedly had a 'secret call' just 34 minutes before the murder, sources said, citing their call details record. The police believe that during the call, Siya shared her precise location with Chetan, which was a viewpoint in the fort and confirmed there were no other tourists in the vicinity.

Also Read | 'Push Her From Same Fort If Guilty': Pune Murder Accused Siya Goyal's Parents

On Sunday, the police took Siya to Lohagad Fort and recreated the crime scene using a dummy to verify the sequence of events.

On June 18, Ketan, the director as well as Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of a family-run real estate business, Success Group, was found dead at the bottom of a 400-foot gorge at Lohagad Fort. It was initially seen as an accidental death, but subsequent investigation revealed that he had been "pushed to death".

Failed Murder Attempt

Siya and Ketan first visited the fort on May 31. Four days later, on June 4, Siya pressed for another visit, but Ketan's mother did not permit it. On June 14, she persuaded him to go again. During that visit, police say she allegedly tried to push him off a cliff, but Ketan managed to hold on to a bush. When Ketan asked why she had pushed him, Siya claimed there had been a snake and that she had acted to protect him.