Films, podcasts, Meghalaya honeymoon murder: How Siya Goyal and team planned Ketan’s killing at Lohagad Fort

A 5,053-page charge sheet was filed in the Vadgaon Maval court in Pune on Saturday in the murder of Ketan Agarwal, who was allegedly pushed off Lohagad Fort in June, officials aware of the matter said. The charge sheet names his fiancée Siya Pravin Goyal, her alleged lover Chetan Babulaal Chaudhary and Ritesh Sanjay Hange as accused. All three are in jail.

Pune rural superintendent of police Sandeep Singh Gill said, “We have submitted a 5,053-page chargesheet before the Vadgaon Maval court today.”

The charge sheet details an alleged conspiracy in which the three first planned to seriously injure Agarwal, explored hiring an outsider to attack him and later decided to kill him themselves, a senior police officer said.

Police have cited more than 100 witnesses, including five eyewitnesses, and submitted mobile phone data, WhatsApp chats, photographs, call detail records, technical analysis and other digital evidence.

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According to the officer, the three initially discussed disabling Agarwal and later contacted several people from outside Maharashtra to explore getting him seriously injured.

They allegedly abandoned the plan after fearing that the person hired could later create problems for them or lead police to the conspiracy. One of those contacted during this stage has since become a witness, the officer said.

Police allege that the accused then decided to kill Agarwal themselves. During the planning, they allegedly watched films based on murders, listened to podcasts about avoiding police detection and studied the murder of Raja Raghuvanshi, the officer said. His wife, Sonam Raghuvanshi was arrested after Raja, an Indore resident, was murdered during the couple’s honeymoon in Meghalaya in May last year.

Why Lohagad was chosen

The charge sheet details an alleged recce of several locations in and around Lonavala, including Lohagad, where the suspects allegedly executed their plan. Towards the end of May, Goyal and Chaudhary allegedly visited Tiger Point and other hill locations to identify an isolated spot. They noticed that Tiger Point did not have CCTV coverage, according to the officer.

Police allege that the accused eventually selected Lohagad because of a previous death at the fort. In March 2025, a 21-year-old woman from Navi Sangvi died after falling from Lohagad near Lonavala. The accused allegedly believed Agarwal’s death at the same location could similarly appear to be an accidental fall while taking a selfie.

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Failed attempts

On June 4, Goyal allegedly insisted on visiting Lohagad before the couple was scheduled to leave for Bali for a pre-wedding shoot. Police allege that the murder was to be carried out before the trip.

The plan was disrupted on June 6 when Goyal allegedly tore up Agarwal’s passport and threw it into a washroom at a cafe in Khalapur. As a result, they could not proceed to Bali, the officer said.

On June 14, Goyal and Agarwal allegedly visited Lohagad. Police allege that Goyal attempted to push Agarwal from the fort, but he did not fall.

She then allegedly pretended there was a snake in an attempt to make him move towards the edge, but the plan failed.

The accused subsequently allegedly created a fake Instagram account named ‘Mahi’, using the photograph of a girl known to them. On June 18, messages from the account allegedly gave Agarwal the impression that Mahi was Goyal’s friend and suggested he take Goyal to Lohagad so her birthday could be celebrated as a surprise.

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Police said the fake account was part of the plan devised by Hange to lure Agarwal to the fort. The account was deleted after the murder, the officer said.