Pune fort murder | The scorpion’s sting
Lohagad Fort sits above the Indrayani valley in Maval taluka, roughly 50 kilometres from Pune, Maharashtra. A popular weekend trekking destination, the fort draws visitors through most of the year, and in the weeks before and after the monsoon, the approach path fills with groups from across the Mumbai-Pune corridor. On the morning of June 18, Ketan Agarwal, 26, the director of a Pimpri-Chinchwad real estate firm and the son of Vishal Agarwal, a businessman in construction, was among those who climbed its stone steps. He had come to celebrate the birthday of his fiancée Siya Goyal, 20. He did not return. At 10.30 that morning, Siya informed authorities that Ketan had slipped while taking photographs near the Vinchu Kata ridge, an extension of the fort that looks like a scorpion’s tail, and fallen into the valley below. His body was recovered after a three-hour rescue operation. The incident was registered as an accidental death. But Ketan’s father told police that his son was a frequent trekker who knew the terrain well, and that things did not add up. Vishal Agarwal, father of the deceased Ketan Agarwal. | Photo Credit: Emmanual Yogini “Ketan always played it safe. He never took …
