A grand November wedding was being planned. Luxury palaces booked. Private jets arranged. Then, a fort cliff ended it all and a fiancée became the prime suspect.
There is something particularly unsettling about this case that goes beyond the crime itself. Ketan Vishal Agarwal, 26, a Pune-based real estate businessman, didn’t die in a moment of rage. If investigators are right, he was stalked, tested, and finally killed by the woman he was about to marry, and a man he likely didn’t know was her secret lover.
And for weeks, nobody knew. Because the story was framed as a monsoon trekking accident.
The Anatomy of a Plan Police Say Was Never Impulsive
What was initially believed to be a tragic trekking accident at Maharashtra’s Lohagad Fort has now turned into a murder investigation. Ketan Agarwal died after plunging into a gorge at the historic fort on June 18.
But here is what the mainstream coverage buries: this was allegedly not a single moment of murderous impulse. Investigators believe the conspiracy began crystallizing after Ketan and Siya visited Lohagad Fort on May 31. The fort’s steep terrain and deep valleys allegedly caught Siya’s attention as a location where a fatal fall could easily be mistaken for an accident.
What followed was a chilling escalation of attempts. Investigators say one of the earliest signs of the alleged conspiracy was during a planned Bali trip. When the group arrived at Mumbai airport, Ketan discovered his passport was missing. Investigators now suspect Siya allegedly removed and disposed of his passport to prevent the foreign trip. A sabotaged honeymoon trip, before the wedding even happened.
Then came the fort visits. On June 14, Siya and Chetan allegedly visited Lohagad Fort with Ketan. During that trip, Siya allegedly attempted to push Ketan off a cliff. However, Ketan managed to save himself by grabbing onto a bush. Siya quickly created a distraction by shouting about spotting a snake nearby, then reportedly hugged Ketan, helping divert attention from what investigators believe was a failed murder attempt.
A snake excuse. A hug. The manipulation was clinical.
After that failed attempt, investigators claim Siya needed another reason to bring Ketan back. With her birthday approaching on June 19, she allegedly suggested celebrating it at Lohagad Fort with friends and family. The proposal appeared harmless. Ketan agreed without suspicion and was reportedly preparing a separate birthday surprise for her.
He was murdered on June 18. One day before her birthday.
The Signal That Sent Him Off the Edge
On reaching the cliff point, Goyal gave a pre-decided signal to Chaudhary, who pushed an unsuspecting Agarwal to his death, according to police.
From the questioning of both accused, it has come to light that it was Chaudhary who instigated Siya Goyal to eliminate Agarwal. The question investigators are still piecing together: what exactly was the motive strong enough to plan, reattempt, and finally execute a murder of someone who, by all accounts, came from a good family and was committed to the relationship?
Technical evidence showed an astonishing 2,004 phone calls between the co-conspirators over six months. Yet the most baffling question remains the families were wealthy, a grand Udaipur wedding was being planned, and Ketan’s family explicitly stated they would have called off the engagement if asked. Why choose violent murder over a simple social confrontation?
That question doesn’t have a clean answer. And perhaps that is the most disturbing part.
CCTV footage showed a man wearing a hoodie despite the June heat, trailing Agarwal and Goyal during their visit to the fort. Police also found inconsistencies in Goyal’s statements, prompting a deeper probe.
A hoodie in June. That detail alone cracked the case open.
The Father’s Journey to the CM and What Came Next
Grief has a way of pushing people to fight. Vishal Agarwal, Ketan’s father, didn’t quietly wait for the system to act. He walked into the Maharashtra Chief Minister’s office and demanded accountability specifically, he demanded India’s sharpest courtroom weapon.
CM Devendra Fadnavis assured the family that the guilty would receive the harshest punishment and immediately accepted their demand to appoint senior advocate Ujjwal Nikam as special public prosecutor. He also instructed the Secretary of the Law and Judiciary Department to set up a fast-track court.
Nikam himself has given his consent. That’s not a small thing. Nikam has been nominated to the Rajya Sabha by the President of India in 2025, representing the field of law. He is now a sitting MP. The fact that he agreed to step into this case signals that even he views it as something beyond ordinary crime.
CM Fadnavis, for his part, went further than political platitudes. He turned the conversation toward something harder to face: “We need to reflect on why educated young men and women from good families develop such criminal intent and desire for revenge,” he said, adding that this is not merely a criminal issue but also has a social angle, and that society must create a strong support system to ensure such vengeful thinking does not develop among young people.
That’s a Chief Minister saying, publicly: the courtroom verdict alone won’t fix what broke here.
Why Ujjwal Nikam Is Not Just a Lawyer, He’s a Statement
When a family demands Ujjwal Nikam specifically, they’re not shopping for legal talent. They’re sending a message.
Nikam helped prosecute suspects in the 1993 Bombay bombings, the Gulshan Kumar murder case, the Pramod Mahajan murder case, the 2008 Mumbai attacks, the 2013 Mumbai gang rape case, and the 2016 Kopardi rape and murder case. His courtroom presence carries the weight of decades spent prosecuting cases where the state’s moral obligation to the victim had to be made visible, loudly, in public.
A film based on him, starring Rajkummar Rao, titled Prahaar: The Ujjwal Nikam Story, is set to release on August 7, 2026. There is a strange, surreal symmetry in Nikam now taking up a case that reads like a crime thriller just as Bollywood prepares to dramatise his life.
But here is what must not be missed: Nikam’s appointment comes with genuine scrutiny too. He has faced accusations of leaning towards a particular ideology, which has led to questions about his neutrality and fundamental integrity as a public prosecutor. A fast-track court with Nikam at the helm will deliver speed and aggression. Whether it delivers complete procedural fairness is a question the defense will certainly raise.
What This Case Is Actually Telling Us
Siya Goyal was 20. Chetan Chaudhary was 22. Ketan Agarwal was 26. They were not street criminals. They did not act in the heat of the moment. If the investigation holds, they allegedly schemed for weeks, failed twice, and succeeded on the third attempt while using a birthday celebration as cover.
A psychiatrist consulted on the case suggested that investigators should thoroughly analyze the digital search history and personal gadgets of both perpetrators to understand where this blueprint originated whether from a crime story, a book, or something they watched online.
That detail is important. It means the fort wasn’t randomly chosen. The “accidental fall” narrative wasn’t improvised. This was allegedly researched.
Maharashtra CM Fadnavis is right that this is a social issue. But it is also a justice issue. And right now, Ketan’s father is holding both a father who lost his son to someone he trusted, fighting through grief to make sure the courtroom does what he cannot.
Ujjwal Nikam stepping in doesn’t guarantee justice. But it makes escape significantly harder.