Ketan (left) died after he was allegedly pushed from the Lohagad Fort by fiance Siya and her lover Chetan. (Image enhanced using AI)The Pune Rural Police have claimed that accused Ritesh Hange (22), arrested in the Lohagad Fort murder case on September 5, was part of the initial plan allegedly hatched by Ketan Agarwal’s fiancée Siya Goyal (20) and Chetan Chaudhary (22) to cause bodily harm to him.Police said Siya, Chetan and Hange had also planned to contact or hire another person to carry out the attack. The plan was later changed, with Siya and Chetan allegedly deciding to execute it themselves, police said.The June 18 death of 26-year-old Agarwal, who belonged to a prominent Pune realtor family, had initially appeared to be an accident at Lohagad Fort. The police investigation later alleged that he was pushed off a cliff as part of a conspiracy involving his fiancée Siya and Chetan. The two were arrested on June 23 and are currently in judicial custody. Hange is in police custody till September 12.Police said Siya and Ketan had got engaged on February 19 and were to marry later this year. Investigators have alleged that Siya had been in a relationship with Chetan since October last year and was unwilling to go ahead with the marriage.Sandeep Singh Gill, Pune Rural Superintendent of Police, said on Monday that Hange’s role emerged after investigators retrieved deleted phone data.“We arrested Ritesh Hange after we established his role in the conspiracy. We have found incriminating evidence against him after the deleted data of phone communication was retrieved. Initially, the two main accused in the case, Siya Goyal and Chetan Chaudhary, had hatched a conspiracy to cause bodily harm to Ketan Agarwal in different ways. He was aware of it and was part of that conspiracy,” Gill said.“The retrieved data and our probe show Chetan was discussing each and everything with Hange from the beginning. We are investigating the whereabouts of Hange on the day of the murder,” he said.Story continues below this adExplaining Hange’s alleged role, Gill said Chetan had known him since their college days and that his name came up when investigators questioned Siya and Chetan about others who were aware of the conspiracy.“Primary technical leads had established it. We had recorded a statement from Hange. We found some discrepancies in his version. We continued the probe and after incriminating evidence surfaced through cyber forensics of deleted chats, we arrested him,” Gill said.Police have also alleged that after the murder, Chetan met Hange and told him what had happened at Lohagad Fort.Gill said the initial plan involved contacting or hiring another person to cause bodily harm to Ketan. “We have evidence of this planning. But subsequently this plan was changed and Chetan and Siya decided to execute their plan on their own,” he said.Story continues below this ad“Hange was also aware of the plan of Chetan and Siya to do it on their own and was also part of that conspiracy,” Gill added.Asked whether any eyewitnesses had been identified, Gill said police had recorded statements of some people who were present at the fort on the day of the incident.Sushant Kulkarni is a Special Correspondent with The Indian Express in Pune with 12+ years of experience covering issues related to Crime, Defence, Internal Security and Courts. He has been associated with the Indian Express since July 2010. Sushant has extensively reported on law and order issues of Pune and surrounding area, Cyber crime, narcotics trade and terrorism. His coverage in the Defence beat includes operational aspects of the three services, the defence research and development and issues related to key defence establishments. He has covered several sensitive cases in the courts at Pune. Sushant is an avid photographer, plays harmonica and loves cooking. ... Read MoreClick here to join Express Pune WhatsApp channel and get a curated list of our storiesTags:Pune murder