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New twist in Pune man's death during Lohagad trek as fiancée, friend held for 'murder' | Key details
Ketan Vishal Agarwal had gone to the Lohagad fort with his fiancée and two close friends to celebrate the birthday of his to-be bride.
A 26-year-old man from Pune died after slipping and falling into a gorge while taking photographs at Lohagad Fort in Maval tehsil in Maharashtra's Pune last week. What was thought to be an accidental death initially has now reportedly turned into a murder case.
The deceased, Ketan Vishal Agarwal, a resident of Gahunje near Pune city, was set to get married in November this year. He was a director in his family's real estate firm.
He had gone to the Lohagad fort with his fiancée and two close friends to celebrate the birthday of his to-be bride, news agency PTI reported.
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On Friday, June 19, police said that Agarwal had lost his balance near a cliff amid fierce winds. He slipped while taking photographs at around 10:30 am and plunged nearly 400 feet into a valley.
Inspector Dinesh Tayde of the Lonavala Rural police station said members of the Shivdurg Mitra Emergency Rescue Team and cops conducted a three-hour rescue operation and retrieved Agarwal's body from the difficult terrain.
At the time, police registered a case of accidental death and launched a probe into the incident, sending the 26-year-old's body for a post-mortem.
Twist in accidental death case
Police on Tuesday revealed a major twist in Agarwal's death case, saying that his fiancée and her male friend had allegedly pushed him into the deep gorge in Pune and presented it as an accidental fall.
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The official said that they have detained the two and are now investigating the incident as a murder case. However, the official refused to provide any other information.
Delhi shocker: Wife's murder staged as suicide
Earlier this month, a 21-year-old man in Delhi's Kalindi Kunj was arrested for allegedly murdering his 18-year-old wife by strangling and smothering her with a pillow at their home. He killed his wife after an argument over his suspicion that she was having an affair and later staged her death as suicide, HT reported earlier.
A senior police officer said that the man slept next to her body for nearly 12 hours after murdering her in the early hours of Friday. He woke around 1:30 pm and "panicked on seeing her dead".
He "tried to stage the scene to make it appear that she had died by suicide," the officer added.
“After a few minutes, he brought the body down and rushed out of the house, screaming that his wife had died by suicide. However, the woman’s sister, who lives in the same neighbourhood, alleged that she had been murdered. The post-mortem revealed that she had been strangled and smothered to death,” the officer added.
Even though the man tried to mislead investigators, their probe later revealed that he had gotten into a tiff with his wife on Thursday night after coming home drunk. Based on the deceased's family's physical abuse and murder allegations, a case was registered against the 21-year-old, and he was arrested.
(with PTI inputs)
