Mahabaleshwar : The alleged murder of Pune businessman Ketan Agarwal by his fiancée Siya Goyal, and her lover, Chetan Chaudhary, has raised troubling questions far beyond the crime itself, not only about how the killing was planned, but also why murder was seen as an option when the marriage could simply have been called off.

Focusing on what he described as the disturbing mindset behind the killing. The programme argued that Ketan’s death was not just the murder of a young man, but also the betrayal of trust, commitment and the faith on which a relationship rests.

Ketan, who was engaged to Siya in February this year, had been planning a grand birthday celebration for her in Mahabaleshwar and was also preparing for their wedding in Udaipur later this year. According to the programme, while Ketan was making plans for their future, Siya and Chetan were allegedly plotting to kill him.

The case came to light after Ketan died after falling from Lohagad Fort near Pune on June 18. At first, the incident was presented as an accident. Siya claimed that Ketan had slipped. But suspicion soon grew, particularly after Ketan’s family raised doubts over the circumstances of his death.

One of the first clues to emerge was Siya’s social media activity after Ketan’s death. On her birthday, a day after the incident, she posted an emotional Instagram story saying he had left her just before they were to marry. The post appeared to portray her as a grieving fiancée, but investigators began to look more closely at her conduct and the events leading up to the fall.

Police scrutiny of Siya’s call detail records reportedly revealed repeated contact with one person — Chetan Chaudhary. Investigators found that the two had spoken more than 2,000 times over the past year, for over 200 hours. This shifted the investigation away from the theory of an accidental fall.

As part of the inquiry, police examined CCTV footage from Lohagad Fort. A man in a hoodie and mask was seen climbing the fort in the summer heat shortly before the incident. Investigators later identified him as Chetan, the man who had been in constant touch with Siya.

Police then questioned Siya and Chetan and examined their phones. According to the programme, deleted digital material recovered during the investigation showed that June 14 and June 18 had been marked in Siya’s calendar using special codenames. 

Investigators also found searches allegedly linked to ways of making a murder look like a trekking accident, repeated searches related to Lohagad Fort, and online searches about slow poison and chemicals that could make a death appear accidental.

The programme said this suggested that the pair had been planning to get Ketan “out of the way” for months. Lohagad Fort, it argued, was not chosen by chance but after thought and preparation.

According to the account presented in DNA, the alleged plot unfolded in stages. Siya and Ketan first went to Lohagad Fort on May 31. That day, police believe Siya first thought of harming him after noticing him near a vulnerable edge. A second plan was allegedly made for June 4, but did not materialise because Ketan’s family did not allow the trip.

The investigation also points to an alleged attempt on June 14. On that visit to the fort, Siya is accused of pushing Ketan towards the gorge. He survived by holding on to a tree. To explain what had happened, she allegedly shouted that she had seen a snake and later told him she had pushed him only to save him.

When that attempt failed, police say the final plan was put into action on June 18, a day before Siya’s birthday. She once again took Ketan to Lohagad Fort in the name of a pre-birthday outing. According to investigators, Siya and Chetan then pushed him into the gorge.

The DNA analysis also drew comparisons with the murder of Raja Raghuvanshi, arguing that Siya appeared to have borrowed elements of a similar crime in which a partner’s death was allegedly made to look like an accident. The programme claimed that police had found online searches linked to that case as well.

A central question raised in the broadcast was why Siya did not simply refuse the marriage if she did not want to go ahead with it. Ketan’s father echoed the same point, saying the family would have accepted a refusal rather than losing their son. He said even one message or photograph from Siya would have been enough for the marriage to be called off.

The programme also highlighted what it called a broader and worrying pattern. Citing NCRB data, it said that between 2020 and 2024, 785 husbands were allegedly murdered in five major states in cases where wives were named as accused — an average of one killing every two days.

It further pointed to warning signs that, in hindsight, may have mattered. According to Ketan’s family, he had told his father after the June 14 visit that Siya’s phone was often busy, that she repeatedly mentioned Chetan, and that he suspected she was involved with someone else. He had also said she had been picking fights with him over small issues for the past month.

Another incident that deepened suspicion was the disappearance of Ketan’s passport ahead of a planned foreign trip. According to the family, the passport went missing while they were travelling, adding to concerns about Siya’s conduct in the days before his death.

Both Siya Goyal and Chetan Chaudhary are in police custody as investigators continue to piece together the alleged conspiracy. But as the case unfolds, the questions it raises are no longer only about one murder. They are also about deceit, manipulation and a chilling willingness to turn a relationship into a crime scene rather than walk away from it.