15 minutes agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleGeeta PandeyBBC Correspondent, Delhi
ANIWhen a young man fell to his death from a fort in the western Indian city of Pune on 18 June, it was initially believed to be an unfortunate accident.
Ketan Agarwal, 26, was visiting the Lohagad Fort, a scenic spot popular with tourists and trekkers, with his fiancee Siya Goyal when he fell into a ditch.
But days later, police arrested Siya, 20, and her friend Chetan Chaudhary, 22, alleging that they murdered Agarwal by pushing him off from a height. They alleged that the two were in a relationship.
Siya and Chetan are in custody and have not made any statements – but both their lawyers have strongly denied the accusations.
Like with a number of other high-profile crimes in India in recent years, the case has whipped up a massive media frenzy.
With police drip-feeding their theories and unverified details of the investigation to journalists, the case has dominated headlines in the past week.
On social media, Ketan and Siya’s personal photos and videos have been circulated extensively.
Siya in particular has received relentless hate – she has been called a murderer even though investigations are ongoing and been mocked over a video she posted before her arrest mourning her fiance’s death.
Many online posts have come up in recent days advising young women to “learn to say no, opt out of marriage if being forced – but not kill”.
According to their families, Ketan and Siya were engaged in February and the couple were set to get married later in the year.
The wedding venue had been booked and preparations were in full swing, their families said.
Ketan’s death hit the headlines last week after senior Pune police official Sandeep Gill announced the arrests and addressed a press conference.
The couple had gone to the fort when Siya reported his death, he said.
“But during our investigation, we came across some information and after talking to their friends and relatives, we grew suspicious.
“Ketan was an experienced trekker and it’s hard to believe that he would suddenly slip and die like that. His family also expressed some doubts and lodged a complaint,” he added.
Gill said when police started digging, they found that “Siya was in a relationship with Chetan and was unwilling to go through with the marriage with Ketan”.
He alleged that Siya and Chetan “conspired to kill Ketan by pushing him from the fort to make the murder look like an accident”.
Senior police inspector Dinesh Tayade later told the media that they cracked the case after spotting a man with a hoodie on the fort’s CCTV camera. That man, he alleged, had been identified as Chetan.
“When we checked the 18 June temperature, it was 33C that morning. During scrutiny of CCTV footage from the foothills, we noticed a person wearing a hoodie with his head covered and also wearing headphones.
“This raised suspicion because such clothing was unusual considering the weather conditions,” Tayade said.
Both Siya and Chetan are in police custody and are due back in court on Friday. But their lawyers have rejected the allegations against them – and Chetan’s lawyer has said the man in the hoodie was not his client.
“Siya has said she’s innocent and is cooperating with the police in investigation. She has categorically denied all allegations against her,” her lawyer Vipul Dushing told the BBC.
“She’s been arrested on the basis of allegations from Ketan’s parents. Her arrest is unnecessary and has happened in a haphazard manner without any legal reason. There’s no evidence and police are just drawing inferences,” he said.
Chetan’s lawyer Ram Shahane told the media that “there is no direct allegation” against his client and that he has been included in the case only because he is Siya’s friend.
“The police have no concrete evidence of Chetan being present or roaming around in the Lohagad area, and no documents have been presented to the court in this regard,” he said.
On Wednesday, police took Chetan to the fort for “a recreation of the crime scene” and what they described as “gait analysis” – to establish if he was the man in the hoodie captured on the CCTV on the day of Ketan’s death.
News channels broadcast footage of a hooded man being led into the fort by policemen.
Siya’s lawyer, however, cast doubts over the exercise, describing it as an inexact science.
“It can only show if there is any resemblance with the man in the hoodie, but it cannot offer any conclusive proof that they are the same people,” Dushing said.
ANISince the tragic death of Ketan, two grieving families have been caught up in the media frenzy.
Ketan’s heartbroken parents have said they are angry at their son’s death for which they blame Siya and Chetan.
His father Vishal Agarwal said, “Ketan and Siya were engaged in February. If she did not want to marry, she could have refused. We would have cancelled the marriage immediately.”
Ketan’s mother Pakhi Agarwal said, “I considered Siya my daughter-in-law. She had come to our house for our birthday party and dinners. I met her many times, we even went shopping together.“
A few days back, the Agarwals met Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to seek justice for their son. Vishal Agarwal said he had sought “the death penalty” in the case.
The state government later named MP and celebrity lawyer Ujjwal Nikam as the public prosecutor in the case. Nikam is credited with getting the death penalty for Mohammad Qasab in the 2008 Mumbai attacks case.
Siya’s parents have spoken of their shock and heartbreak at the turn of events.
Hours after their arrest, her father, businessman Praveen Goyal was taken to hospital for treatment after he fainted.
“This is very unfortunate, we still can’t believe how all this happened,” he later told the media. “The Agarwals have lost their son. We also loved Ketan a lot, I had started to think of him as my own son. I feel great sadness at his death,” he said.
Siya’s mother Pooja Agarwal told the media the tragedy had “devastated” two families.
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“We are heartbroken. Ketan was a really good man. Whoever is found guilty must receive strictest of punishments,” she said.
She rejected suggestions that Siya didn’t want to marry Ketan but was being coerced by her family.
“We’d asked Siya repeatedly if she liked and wanted to marry Ketan and she said she loved him. They were very happy together.
“If Siya had any problems and discussed it with us, we would have called off the wedding. But there was no problem. Siya loved him very much,” she said.
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