PUNE: Police investigating the murder of Pune-based realtor Ketan Agarwal are examining whether his fiancée, Siya Goyal, had secretly married her alleged lover, Chetan Chaudhary, months before Agarwal’s death.Goyal (20) and Chaudhary (22) are accused of pushing the 25-year-old realtor off a cliff at Lohagad Fort in Pune district on June 18. Both are currently in judicial custody.Investigators say the alleged secret marriage has emerged as a fresh line of inquiry.‘Secretly married’“Analysis of some chats exchanged between Siya and Chetan indicates that they had secretly married. There are unconfirmed murmurs also about their marriage. We are verifying this claim and also checking whether the marriage was legally registered,” a senior official from the Pune Rural Police said.Another senior Pune Rural Police officer said the accused themselves had spoken about the alleged marriage during questioning.“We are analysing their communication on a cellphone messaging app to verify this claim,” the officer said.Police are also trying to establish where the alleged marriage took place and whether it occurred before Goyal’s engagement to Agarwal on February 19 or afterwards.From accidental fall to murder investigationAgarwal died after falling into a gorge at Lohagad Fort on June 18.According to investigators, Goyal initially told police that he had slipped while the couple were taking photographs, leading officers to register the case as an accidental death.However, police say subsequent investigation, including digital evidence and witness statements, led them to conclude that the death was the result of a planned murder.Investigators allege that Goyal and Chaudhary conspired to kill Agarwal because he had become an obstacle to their relationship.Police also claim the pair rehearsed the crime before allegedly carrying it out.Digital evidence under scrutinyInvestigators are examining mobile phone data, chat records and other digital evidence recovered from the accused.Police say Goyal’s cellphone records also showed searches related to the Raja Raghuvanshi murder case before Agarwal’s death.Raghuvanshi was allegedly pushed off a cliff in Meghalaya in May in a case that drew national attention.Officials are studying whether those searches have any relevance to the planning of the alleged crime.Snapchat message raises new questionsPolice have also recovered a Snapchat message allegedly sent by Goyal to one of her friends in May, weeks before Agarwal’s death.In the message, Goyal allegedly requested the friend to share a copy of her Aadhaar card for travel bookings linked to her planned wedding with Agarwal in Udaipur, while suggesting that the marriage would never take place.The message read, “Send your Aadhaar card front and back side photo for tickets for the wedding, which is anyway not going to take place, but still do send it.”According to police, Agarwal’s family had already begun making travel arrangements for relatives and friends for the November wedding and had sought Aadhaar details from Goyal’s family for ticket bookings.Investigators are now trying to determine whether the friend had any prior knowledge of the alleged conspiracy.“We will question this friend to ascertain whether she had any prior knowledge about the conspiracy to eliminate Ketan,” the police official said.Police said they are also verifying the authenticity of the Snapchat message.Family tragedyIn a related development, Agarwal’s 71-year-old grandfather, Devichand Agarwal, died of cardiac arrest at a Pune hospital on Saturday evening, according to a close family member.The relative said he had been admitted to hospital for the past few days.
