Pune: Fresh claims have emerged in the Ketan Agrawal murder case, with media reports alleging that Sia Goel took ₹1 crore from Ketan in the name of wedding shopping but allegedly handed the entire amount to her alleged lover, Chetan Choudhary.
Meanwhile, cab driver Vaibhav Jadhav, who dropped Ketan and Sia at the airport for their pre-wedding Bali trip on June 6, has claimed that Sia did not want to travel to Bali. According to him, she was arguing with her brother Sahil during the journey. Jadhav further alleged that the vehicle stopped at one point where four more people boarded, and later at a food court, where Sia briefly returned to the cab, removed some belongings and hid them in the boot before rejoining the group.
The driver also said that after dropping them at the airport, he received a call stating that Ketan’s passport had been left in the cab. Despite a thorough search, the passport was not found.
According to the police, the alleged murder took place on June 18 at Lohagad Fort. Investigators claim that Sia signalled to Chetan after sitting down on the pretext of drinking water or tying her shoelaces, following which Chetan allegedly pushed Ketan into a gorge.
Police further allege that the accused had planned the murder a day earlier at a café in Pune’s Lullanagar area. Investigators claim the two had also visited Lohagad Fort before the incident to identify the location and rehearse the crime. Police are now trying to identify the exact spot where the alleged rehearsal took place.
Investigators said Chetan travelled around 90 km to Lohagad Fort on a scooter instead of using a car to avoid toll plaza records. The scooter has been seized. Police further claim that he wore a hoodie while travelling to the fort, removed it during the incident, and wore it again while returning to Pune.
Reacting to the investigation, Sia Goel’s lawyer Ashutosh Srivastava said statements made by an accused while in police custody are not admissible as evidence in court. He said the defence would question why the case was initially treated as an accident before being converted into a murder investigation. He also argued that police have already had sufficient time to question Sia and there is no need for further police custody.
