Pune: Police Seek Court Nod for Lie Detector Test on Sia Goyal in Ketan Agarwal Murder Case

Pune, 2nd July 2026: The Pune Rural Police moved a court seeking permission to conduct a polygraph (lie detector) test on Sia Goyal, the prime accused in the murder of her fiancé, Ketan Agarwal, saying the investigation lacked direct eyewitnesses or conclusive evidence to establish who pushed the victim into a gorge at Lohagad Fort.

Informing the court about the progress of the investigation, the police said that apart from the statements of the accused, they had not found any direct evidence identifying the person who pushed Agarwal off the cliff. Investigators argued that a polygraph test could help generate fresh leads in the case.

Police told the court that the statements of Goyal and co-accused Chetan Chaudhary had already been recorded, but further investigation required the polygraph examination.

Responding to the development, Goyal’s lawyer Vipul Dushing said that although the police had sought the court’s permission, several legal and procedural requirements had to be fulfilled before such a test could be conducted. He also pointed out that the accused’s consent is mandatory for a polygraph examination.

While polygraph tests are often sought in cases where corroborative evidence is limited, their results are not admissible as substantive evidence in court. Investigators, however, use them to obtain leads and guide the course of the investigation.

Ketan Agarwal, a Pune-based real estate businessman, died on June 18 after falling into a gorge at Lohagad Fort. Police later alleged that his fiancée, Sia Goyal, and her alleged boyfriend, Chetan Chaudhary, had pushed him off the cliff and arrested both on murder charges. Agarwal and Goyal had been engaged and were scheduled to marry in November.

Meanwhile, investigators are also examining whether evidence was deleted from Agarwal’s mobile phone. Police said the device remained in Goyal’s possession for some time after the incident before it was handed over to the victim’s family. Forensic experts are analysing whether any data was erased or tampered with while the phone was in her custody.

As part of the probe, police recreated the sequence of events at Lohagad Fort on July 1 in the presence of Chaudhary. A similar reconstruction was carried out earlier with Goyal, during which investigators used a dummy to recreate the alleged fall from the cliff.