- Siya Goyal's brother forcibly made her sit inside the car after they were picked up from Pune, claims a driver
- During the journey, the driver claims, Siya and her brother had an argument
- Siya was headed to Mumbai airport to take a flight to Bali. Ketan Agrawal, her fiance, joined them on the way
Siya Goyal, the 20-year-old arrested in connection with the murder of her fiance, was a reluctant passenger and it was her brother who forced her into the car, claims the driver who drove her to Mumbai airport from where she was to fly to Bali for a pre-weeding shoot.
The Bali trip got cancelled as Siya's fiance, Ketan Agrawal, realised his passport was missing upon arriving at Mumbai airport.
The driver, Vaibhav Jadhav, claimed that Siya's brother, Sahil, held her hand and forcibly made her sit inside the vehicle after they were picked up from Pune.
During the journey between Pune and Ravet (Pimpri-Chinchwad), the driver claims, Siya and her brother had an argument.
After that, they continued their journey to Mumbai Airport along with Ketan Agarwal and some of his family members, who joined them from the Kiwale Lodha area, the driver said.
The driver further stated said that the group later stopped at a food court for tea and snacks.
During the halt, the driver claims, Siya allegedly came back to the car on the pretext of taking something and removed certain belongings from the vehicle, keeping them in her pocket.
The driver claims he noticed this.
The cab driver, Vaibhav Jadhav, who drove Siya Goyal, fiance, Ketan Agrawal, to Mumbai airport
After dropping everyone at Mumbai Airport, the driver received a call from Ketan, who informed him that his passport had been left behind in the car.
The passport was never found. The trip was called off.
Ketan's father, Vijay, hinted at sabotage.
"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.
The driver also appears to suggest that Siya returned to the car during the brief halt at a food mall. Later, the passport was found missing.
A police official said Siya had sabotaged their plan to visit Bali for a pre-wedding photoshoot by misplacing Ketan's passport while on the way to Mumbai airport on June 6.
"Our probe showed that after stealing the passport from the car at the food mall at Khalapur, Siya Goyal dumped it in the women's washroom. While we are probing the murder, a team will also be sent to the mall to see if the passport can be retrieved," senior police inspector Dinesh Tayde told news agency PTI.
Siya and Ketan got engaged in February and were scheduled to get married in a grand wedding ceremony in November, which was to cost about Rs 17 crore, with two private aircraft arranged to ferry guests.
The police claim that Siya had been in a relationship with Chetan Chaudhary, a businessman, for close to a year before the engagement.
On June 18, Ketan was found dead at the bottom of a 400-foot gorge at Lohagad Fort in Pune. It was initially seen as an accidental death but subsequent investigation revealed that he had been "pushed to death".
A detailed analysis of call records and CCTV footage helped Pune Rural Police unravel the alleged conspiracy behind the murder.
"The duo (Goyal and Chaudhary) exchanged 2,004 phone calls and spent around 238 hours speaking to each other during the last six months. Some of the calls between them lasted for more than 2 to 3 hours," Pune (Rural) Superintendent of Police Sandip Singh Gill said.
Police suspect the extensive communication was part of the planning that culminated in the murder.
"The probe has also revealed that on the day of the incident, Goyal and Chaudhary allegedly met at a cafe before heading to Lohagad Fort and discussed the plan to eliminate Ketan.
"During the meeting, the two allegedly identified a suitable spot on the fort from where Agarwal could be pushed into the valley and worked out the details of the execution of the plan," said Gill.
Goyal and Chaudhary have been remanded to police custody.
According to the police, both Goyal and Chaudhary viewed Agarwal as an obstacle in their relationship and decided to eliminate him.
