Siya Goyal & Ketan Agarwal: The Lohagad Fort Murder
On June 18, 2026, Ketan Agarwal, a 26-year-old Pune businessman excited about his upcoming ₹17 crore dream wedding, went to Lohagad Fort with his fiancée Siya Goyal to celebrate her birthday. He never came home. What was initially recorded as a tragic trekking accident is now a chilling murder case, a story of a secret relationship, a fake love story performed for Instagram, and a conspiracy that was weeks in the making.
Ketan did not slip. He was pushed.
The Couple the World Saw and the Truth Behind It
To anyone following Siya Goyal's Instagram, the engagement looked like a fairy tale. She posted pictures of Ketan giving her flowers, videos of them dancing, and captions like "Cheers to one month since my heart found its home." In May, she shared a clip of Ketan closing her eyes and handing her a sunflower. The comments were full of hearts. The families had already begun preparing for a lavish November wedding; a palace venue in Udaipur, Rajasthan, had been booked at a cost of ₹17 crore, and two private aircraft arranged to fly in guests.
Behind the posts was a completely different reality. Police allege that Siya Goyal, 20, had been in a secret relationship with 22-year-old Chetan Chaudhary throughout her engagement to Ketan. In a development that shocked even investigators, sources claim the two had allegedly solemnised their own marriage secretly, four months before Ketan was killed, all while Siya continued posting romantic photos with her fiancé and going through with wedding preparations.
To Siya and Chetan, according to police, Ketan Agarwal had become an obstacle. And they had decided to remove him.
The Fort That Witnessed a Murder
Lohagad Fort is not just any hill fort. Rising 1,033 metres above sea level in the Sahyadri range, 52 km northwest of Pune near Lonavala, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, part of the Maratha Military Landscapes of India, inscribed in 2025. Built and captured by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in the 17th century, the fort changed hands between the Mughals and Marathas multiple times before the British took control. Its name literally means "Iron Fort" in Marathi. It has four historic gateways, a famous scorpion-tail ridge called Vinchu Kata, and steep gorges that drop hundreds of feet into the valleys below.
It is popular with weekend trekkers from Pune and Mumbai. It is easy to climb, beginner-friendly, and beautiful, especially in June, when the monsoon turns the hills green. On most days, Lohagad is a place people go to feel alive. On June 18, 2026, it became a crime scene.
Two Failed Attempts Before the Fall
The murder at Lohagad was not the first attempt on Ketan's life. It was the third.
Police allege that Siya and Chetan had been plotting the killing for weeks, with at least two failed attempts before June 18. One earlier attempt reportedly involved pushing Ketan under the pretext of shielding him from a snake, a plan that did not succeed. Other attempts reportedly fell apart due to unforeseen circumstances. Police later revealed that the accused had actually rehearsed the final push at the fort before executing it.
On June 18, Chetan Chaudhary arrived at Lohagad separately and in advance. This detail alone, invisible to Ketan, tells you everything about the level of planning involved. CCTV footage later captured a man in a hoodie trailing the couple across the fort despite the June heat, something that struck investigators as suspicious almost immediately. Siya and Chetan allegedly led Ketan to an isolated spot at the edge of a 400-foot gorge. He was pushed. His body was recovered after a three-hour rescue operation.
The Instagram Post That Gave Her Away
Siya called police and told them Ketan had slipped accidentally while taking photographs in strong winds. An accidental death report was duly registered. Then she went home and posted to Instagram.
Her stories expressed grief in the language of a heartbroken fiancée: "You left me on my birthday." "You left when we were so close to getting married. I still can't understand why you did this to me." She posted a romantic video of Ketan in the front seat of a car, captioning it: "Mere dil ko pata hai ki tu yahi hai." The posts went viral, first as tragedy, and then, when the arrests came, as evidence of a stunning double life.
It was Ketan's family that refused to accept the accident theory. His father Vishal Agarwal pushed police to investigate further. Technical evidence, call records, location data, and the CCTV footage of the hoodie-clad figure told a different story than Siya's account. Police registered a murder case. Both Siya Goyal and Chetan Chaudhary were arrested and remanded to judicial custody. Siya's parents and brother were also questioned. Ketan's father later met Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who assured the family the case would be fast-tracked.
A ₹17 Crore Wedding That Was Never Going to Happen
The deepest tragedy in this case is how completely Ketan was deceived. He was, by all accounts, a kind and ambitious young man, the Director and Chief Marketing Officer of his family's real estate firm, Success Group. He was genuinely excited about his future. He took his fiancée to a fort on her birthday. He bought her flowers and posted countdown videos to their wedding. The family had invested crores. Palace hotels were booked. Aircraft were arranged.
None of it was real, at least not for the person who mattered most. And the question that stays with you, after all the arrests and the evidence and the crime scene recreation, is the simplest one: at what point did Ketan realise that the woman beside him on that cliff had brought him there to die?
Perhaps he never did. And perhaps that is the most haunting part of all.
References:
- Daily Pioneer: How Police Cracked the Ketan Agarwal Murder Case: https://dailypioneer.com
- Outlook India: Siya Goyal Secretly Married Chetan Before Ketan's Death: https://www.outlookindia.com
- WION News: Siya Goyal's Instagram Posts After Murder: https://www.wionews.com
- Free Press Journal: 'Rest In Peace My Love': Siya's Viral Instagram Posts: https://www.freepressjournal.in
- India TV News: Siya Taken to Lohagad for Crime Scene Recreation: https://www.indiatvnews.com
- Gulf News: Pune Woman's Romantic Posts Before Fiancé's Killing: https://gulfnews.com
- Barristery: Complete Legal Analysis of the Siya Goyal Case: https://www.barristery.in/2026/07/siya-goyal-case.html
- Wikipedia: Lohagad Fort: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lohagad
- Maharashtra Tourism: Lohagad Fort: https://maharashtratourism.gov.in/fort/lohagad/
- Treks and Trails: Lohagad Fort Trek Guide: https://www.treksandtrails.org/tours/lohagad-fort-trek