Victim’s fiancee stole passport to sabotage Bali visit: Lohagad Fort death probe

5 min readPuneUpdated: Jun 25, 2026 12:04 AM IST

Ketan died after he was allegedly pushed from the Lohagad Fort by fiance Siya. (Special arrangement photo)

An investigation by Pune rural police into the death of a 25-year-old man after he was allegedly pushed off a cliff at Lohagad Fort showed the deceased Ketan Agarwal’s fiancée, Siya Goyal — who is accused of murdering him — sabotaged their planned visit to Bali, Indonesia for a pre-wedding shoot, by stealing his passport.

The probe earlier led police to unravel a murder conspiracy, allegedly plotted by Siya, 20 and her lover Chetan Babulal Chaudhary, 22. The duo was arrested and remanded to police custody till June 29. The probe revealed earlier that Siya had sabotaged their plan for a pre-wedding shoot in Bali by stealing Ketan’s passport. On Wednesday further details emerged on how Siya allegedly stole and disposed of Ketan’s passport.

“Our probe suggests that they started their journey from Pune around 11 pm on June 6 to Mumbai airport for their trip to Bali. In the car were Siya, Ketan, Ketan’s sister and Siya’s brother — all of whom were to go to Bali — along with the driver. Ketan was carrying a sling satchel which had his and his sister’s passports and foreign currency for the trip. At one point during the journey, Ketan handed over the satchel to Siya. She opened it once during journey, saw what was inside and closed it again. They later stopped at a foodmall at Khalapur for a break in the journey and to have coffee. At this time, the satchel was left in the car. After the break here, they continued the journey. Upon reaching the airport, they realised that Ketan’s passport was missing. If someone was to steal from the bag, why would they steal just one passport, that too just one of them and not the foreign currency?” said an officer who is part of the investigation.

The officer added, “Our probe has now revealed that, after getting down outside the foodmall, Siya had gone back to the car which was in the parking lot saying she had left the phone. She took more than expected time to return to the group from the car. When asked about the delay, Siya said she had gone to the washroom. When we questioned Siya about this, she revealed that she did in fact take the passport and dumped it in the dustbin of the women’s washroom at the foodmall. We are verifying this claim of her’s about the location where she disposed of the passport. We have reason to believe that Siya sabotaged the plan for the pre-wedding shoot at Bali because she was hatching a conspiracy with Chetan to eliminate Ketan.”

The probe showed that Siya had taken Ketan to Lohagad fort on two occasions — on May 31 and June 14 — before she and Chetan murdered him on June 18 by pushing him from Western cliff of the fort. It also showed that Siya wanted to take Ketan to Lohagad on June 4, but Ketan’s mother did not allow him.

Allegations of previous attempt

Officials said the family made allegations that during Ketan and Siya’s visit to Lohagad fort on May 31, Siya had attempted to push him off a cliff. But Ketan held on to a bush. Siya then claimed she had seen a snake and pushed Ketan aside to protect him from it, Ketan’s family has said. “We are now investigating these allegations by the family. We have already established the conspiracy by Siya and Chetan had been hatched prior to May 31. So it is likely that attempts to murder Ketan were made during the earlier visits too.”

The officer added, “We are also investigating all previous communication between Siya and Chetan, their Google search, their movements, among other clues.”

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Sister’s statement proves crucial

Sources said that investigators speaking to Ketan’s sister — who is two years younger than him — and his mother have played a major role in the probe. “Ketan used to confide a lot in them — especially the sister — about his relationship with Siya and issues thereof. Initially Ketan’s family did not believe that there could be foul play. But later Ketan’s family was convinced about the anomalies in the sequence that was emerging. They have been very cooperative in spite of going through deep grief,” said an officer.

“An investigation team has spoken to Ketan’s uncles and father and his mother and sister, for several hours. And that has helped the probe immensely in the case,” the officer said.

Sushant Kulkarni is a Special Correspondent with The Indian Express in Pune with 12+ years of experience covering issues related to Crime, Defence, Internal Security and Courts. He has been associated with the Indian Express since July 2010.

Sushant has extensively reported on law and order issues of Pune and surrounding area, Cyber crime, narcotics trade and terrorism. His coverage in the Defence beat includes operational aspects of the three services, the defence research and development and issues related to key defence establishments. He has covered several sensitive cases in the courts at Pune.

Sushant is an avid photographer, plays harmonica and loves cooking. ... Read More

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