A 5,053-page chargesheet was filed in the Wadgaon Maval court on Saturday in the Ketan Agarwal murder case, officials said.
Agarwal died after being pushed off Lohagad Fort on June 18. The chargesheet names his fiancée Siya Pravin Goyal, her alleged lover Chetan Babulaal Chaudhary and Ritesh Sanjay Hange as accused. All three are currently behind bars.
Pune rural superintendent of police Sandeep Singh Gill said, “We have submitted a 5,053-page chargesheet before the Wadgaon Maval court today.”
The chargesheet details an alleged conspiracy where the three accused first planned to seriously injure him, explored hiring an outsider to attack him and later decided to kill him themselves after studying murder cases, films and ways of evading police detection, according to a senior police officer.
Police cited more than 100 witnesses, including five eyewitnesses, besides mobile phone data, WhatsApp chats, photographs, call detail records, technical analysis and other digital evidence.
According to the officer cited above, the three initially discussed disabling Agarwal and later contacted several people from outside Maharashtra to explore getting him seriously injured. However, they allegedly abandoned the plan after fearing that the person hired for the attack could later create problems for them or lead police to the conspiracy. One of the persons contacted during this stage has since become a witness in the case, the officer said.
Police allege that the accused subsequently 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 Meghalaya-based Sonam Raghuvanshi, the officer said. Sonam was held after her husband Raja, an Indore resident, was murdered during the couple’s honeymoon in Meghalaya in May last year.
{{/usCountry}}Police allege that the accused subsequently 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 Meghalaya-based Sonam Raghuvanshi, the officer said. Sonam was held after her husband Raja, an Indore resident, was murdered during the couple’s honeymoon in Meghalaya in May last year.
{{/usCountry}}Why Lohagad was chosen
The chargesheet also details an alleged recce of several locations in and around Lonavala, including the one at Lohagad where the suspects 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 had died after falling from Lohagad near Lonavla in Pune district. The accused allegedly believed that Agarwal’s death at the same location could similarly appear as an accidental fall while taking a selfie.
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 café in Khalapur. As a result, they could not proceed to Bali, according to the officer.
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.
Police allege that the fake account was part of the plan devised by Hange to lure Agarwal to the fort. The account was deleted after the murder, according to the senior officer.
Execution of plan
On the day of the alleged murder, Chaudhary reached the fort through an exit route and went to a temple after Goyal signalled him, police allege.
According to the investigation, when Agarwal’s attention was diverted, Goyal allegedly pushed him from behind by his shoulder while Chaudhary pushed him from the leg. Chaudhary then allegedly kicked Agarwal, causing him to fall from the fort and die.
Police allege that Hange, a friend of Chaudhary, played a central role in planning the murder and coordinating the execution of the conspiracy.
The allegations contained in the chargesheet are yet to be tested during the trial.