Practice pushes, hacks to fool cops: How Siya-Chetan prepped for murder

3 min readPuneUpdated: Jul 2, 2026 02:01 PM IST

DAYS BEFORE they allegedly pushed Ketan Agarwal (26) to his death from Lohagad Fort near Pune, his fiancee, Siya Goyal (20), and her boyfriend, Chetan Chaudhary, practised how they would execute the murder plan, the investigation has found. Police said this practice was conducted in an open space next to a club in Pune’s Lulla Nagar. A police team on Thursday took Siya to this open space.

The investigation has also revealed that Siya and Chetan used social media and the Internet to find information on how they can escape the police net after committing an offence, a police officer said.

“It is becoming increasingly evident as the investigation progresses that Siya and Chetan not only planned the execution of the alleged conspiracy but also took deliberate steps to ensure that the incident would not be detected by investigators as a case of murder, employing measures in both the physical and digital domains to conceal the crime and misdirect the investigation,” said an officer.

“For example, we now know that Siya and Chetan conducted practice on how to execute the plan of pushing Ketan off the cliff. This practice was conducted near a club in Pune’s Lulla Nagar area. We are now investigating why this location was chosen and how the two practised. On Thursday morning, an investigation team took Siya to the location to find out how they practised,” the officer said.

The police officer detailed the measures Siya and Chetan took to cover their tracks. Police have earlier said they deleted their chat history. They also decided on a signal that would prompt Chetan to push Ketan from the fort. This signal was Siya sitting down on the ground.

Siya and Ketan were engaged in February

A love triangle, then murder

The murder of 26-year-old Ketan Agarwal, director of a realty firm in Pune, has made national headlines after the investigation into what was considered an accident revealed the alleged role of his fiancee, Siya, and her boyfriend Chetan.

According to the police, the families of Siya and Ketan planned their wedding in February this year. The two were engaged on February 19, and the wedding was scheduled for later this year.

Story continues below this ad

Siya, police have found, was in a relationship with Chetan since October and did not want to marry Ketan. So she allegedly plotted his murder with her boyfriend, Chetan.

On June 18, Ketan and Siya visited the Lohagad Fort near Pune. The investigation has found that Chetan was already there. Dressed in a hoodie to escape being identified, Chetan followed Siya and Ketan till the three reached the point from where they had decided to push Ketan. Siya sat on the ground – a cue to Chetan – and he allegedly pushed Ketan into the 350-metre gorge next to the Fort.

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

Click here to join Express Pune WhatsApp channel and get a curated list of our stories

Tags:

Pune murder