₹14 crore wedding, private jets, then fatal fall: Siya Goyal ousts Ketan Agarwal from Lohagad fortress

What was supposed to be a lavish wedding celebration in Udaipur this November has instead become the focus of a high-profile murder investigation. Police say Siya Goyal and Chetan Chaudhary, who investigators believe were in a relationship with her, conspired to kill her fiance, 25-year-old Pune-based realtor Ketan Agarwal, at Lohagad Fort near Lonavala in Maharashtra on June 18.

The couple’s families were reportedly preparing for an extravagant palace wedding before the alleged murder brought the celebrations to an abrupt end.

Police are investigating the motive for the alleged murder

Investigators are still trying to determine the exact motive for the alleged crime. While several theories emerged during the investigation, most revolve around claims that Goyal was unwilling to go ahead with the marriage.

The latest claim to emerge during the probe is that she was unhappy because Agarwal was wearing a wig.

Ketan Agarwal, son of businessman Vishal Agarwal, got engaged to Siya Goyal in February, the wedding was scheduled for November. During the investigation, the police claimed that despite being engaged, Goyal and Chaudhary were in a relationship.

Read also | Pune murder case: How did Siya meet Chetan? A police investigation revealed | 10 updates

Multi-million dollar wedding plans

Reports differed on the estimated cost of the wedding celebrations. Police told Hindustan Times that the two families have booked a palace in Udaipur and are expected to spend time around ₹14 million on a wedding. However, other reports put the total cost at as much ₹17 million.

According to an NDTV report citing sources, the arrangements included two private planes to transport the guests. Wedding preparations were said to be in full swing before Ketan Agarwal’s death.

Read also | Ketan Agarwal murder: Father claims Siya Goyal knew about ‘hair patch’

The family reveals the extent of the preparations

Siya Goyal’s mother, Pooja Goyal, also spoke about the planned ceremony and said that both the families have made elaborate arrangements for the wedding in Udaipur.

“We booked Ananta Resort in Udaipur for our wedding. The price was around.” ₹3 crore and we were ready to spend ₹5 lakh on the wedding,” she said.

2000 calls, secret meeting

Ketan Agarwal, 25, the son of businessman Vishal Agarwal, got engaged to 20-year-old Siya Goyal in February and the couple was due to marry in November. However, police say their investigation found that Goyal was in a relationship with co-accused Chetan Chaudhary despite being engaged to Agarwal.

Police told PTI that Siya and Chetan remained in constant contact for nearly six months, exchanged a staggering 2,004 calls and spent 238 hours on the phone before Ketan was allegedly chased to his death from Lohagad Fort.

Read also | Lohagad Fort murder: Siya Goyal, Chetan Chaudhary blame each other

They viewed Ketan as an obstacle in their relationship and decided to remove him, police said.

“The duo (Siya and Chetan) exchanged 2,004 phone calls in the last six months and spent about 238 hours talking to each other. Some of the calls between them lasted more than 2-3 hours,” Pune Superintendent of Police (Rural) Sandip Singh Gill said.

On the day of the incident, Siya and Chetan reportedly met at a coffee shop and discussed a plan to eliminate Ketan, even finding a suitable place in the fort from where they could be pushed out, he said.

“During the meeting, the two reportedly identified a suitable location on the fort from where Agarwal could be pushed into the valley and worked out the details of the execution of the plan,” Gill said.

Siya allegedly sabotaged their plan to visit Bali for a pre-wedding shoot by losing Ketan’s passport on the way to the Mumbai airport on June 6, police said.