Investigators revealed on Wednesday that businessman Ketan Vishal Agarwal’s fiancée, Siya Goyal, and her boyfriend, Chetan Chaudhary, repeatedly searched online for ways to kill someone, and spoke to each other on the phone 2,004 times between January 1 and June 18, before they pushed him to death off Lohagad Fort.
“The duo (Goyal and Chaudhary) exchanged 2004 phone calls and spent around 238 hours talking to each other during the last six months. Some of the calls lasted for more than two to three hours,” Pune Superintendent of Police (Rural) Sandeep Singh Gill said, citing a detailed analysis of call logs and CCTV footage.
“The investigation 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 Agarwal,” he added.
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Pune Rural Police officers said the murder appeared to be premeditated, as Siya and Chaudhary allegedly used their mobile phones to search online for ways to kill Ketan.
Calls and messages between Sia and Chetan continued even after Ketan Agarwal’s murder, said Dinesh Tayadi, senior police inspector of Lonavla Rural Police Station and investigating officer in the case.
Ketan Agarwal (25) was a director in his family’s company, Success Group, which is one of the largest warehouse developers in Maharashtra. In February this year, Siya Goyal, 20, got engaged, with his uncle acting as matchmaker, and they were due to get married next November, with hotels in Udaipur booked. Goyal also hails from a wealthy business family in Pune. But Agarwal’s family did not know that she was in love with Chaudhary, 22.
Police suspect that Sia was unwilling to go ahead with the arranged marriage, but was unable to publicly disclose her relationship with her family. “Given the societal pressure and her family’s image, she had no choice to escape with Chetan,” an officer said.
Both Sia and Chetan were arrested on charges of murder and conspiracy under Sections 103 and 61 (2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
