Pune: A Maharashtra court on Monday granted Pune Rural Police five more days of custody of Siya Goyal and Chetan Babulal Chaudhary, who are accused of murdering her fiance, 26-year-old real estate executive Ketan Agarwal, at Lohagad Fort on June 18.
The accused were produced before the Vadgaon Maval court on Monday after the expiry of their initial police remand.
Seeking an extension, investigators informed the court that several crucial aspects of the probe remain incomplete. Police said they need to recreate the crime scene with both accused present, trace Chetan’s movements after the incident, examine phone conversations exchanged following the murder, and recover evidence linked to the destruction of Ketan’s passport.
According to investigators, Siya allegedly tore and burnt the passport after stealing it during a stop at a food mall while the family was travelling to Mumbai airport for a planned pre-wedding trip to Bali.
The Bali visit was cancelled after Ketan discovered his passport was missing at the airport. Police believe the passport was deliberately removed to prevent the couple from travelling together. Earlier, the driver who ferried the group claimed Siya had returned to the parked vehicle alone during the journey, allegedly taking some belongings from inside.
Meanwhile, the police recreated the alleged sequence of events at Lohagad Fort on June 28 using a dummy, temporarily closing the fort to the public to conduct the exercise without interruption.
Ketan was initially believed to have died in an accidental fall into a 400-foot gorge. But police found that he had been pushed from the cliff, allegedly by Siya and Chetan. Both were reportedly in a relationship and considered Ketan an obstacle.
According to the police, the accused exchanged more than 2,000 phone calls over six months, spending nearly 238 hours speaking to each other. Conversations formed part of a planned conspiracy that culminated in the murder, police suspect.
The investigation has further uncovered that Siya allegedly attempted to kill Ketan days before the fatal incident. During an earlier visit to Lohagad Fort, police claim she tried to push him off a cliff, but he survived after grabbing a bush. She reportedly told him she had only been trying to save him after spotting a snake.
(IANS)
