In an appeal for justice, Pune Fort murder victim Ketan Agarwal’s mother, Rakhi Agarwal, has penned an emotional note to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, asking to not let her son become “just another case file.”
The note emailed to PM Modi on Monday night begins with the dreams a mother had for her child before his life was cut short. Rakhi Agarwal detailed on the pain of cremating a child.
“Like every mother, I dreamt of watching Ketan build a beautiful life, get married, and grow old with us. Instead, I had to perform the last rites of my child. Ek maa ke liye isse bada dard aur koi nahi hota (For a mother, there is no greater pain that this).”
Further talking about her son’s “brutal murder”, Ms Agarwal noted that with Ketan’s death, she lost her world.
“Every corner of our home reminds me of him. His room, his clothes, his photographs, and the silence that has replaced his laughter remind me every day that he will never come back.”
The Agarwal family suffered two losses in less than a month. Ketan’s grandfather, Devichand Agarwal, who was unwell since the loss of his grandson died of cardiac arrest 20 days after the horrific Pune Fort murder.
“He loved Ketan dearly and could not bear the grief of losing his grandson. Within days, our family lost two generations,” she added.
Ms Agarwal said she is just a mother, who is asking for justice and not sympathy or any special favour. Every day without justice deepens our pain, she wrote, calling for the strictest punishment for those responsible for taking her son’s life “without unnecessary delay.”
“Please do not let Ketan become just another case file. He was someone’s son, someone’s grandson, someone’s brother, but to me, woh meri poori duniya tha (he was my world).”
The grieving mother added that one day she wants to look at her son’s picture and say “tujhe insaaf mil gaya (you got justice).”
A Father’s Appeal To President
Last week, Ketan’s father, Vishal Agarwal, wrote to President Droupadi Murmu seeking a fast-tracked investigation and speedy justice.
“My son Ketan was brutally murdered. Since that day, our lives have completely changed. Every morning we wake up with the same pain, and every night we sleep with the same question: When will Ketan get justice?” wrote Ketan’s father.
He too mentioned about the two losses the family witnessed in a span of three weeks, asking for strictest punishment.
Pune Fort Murder
Ketan Agarwal, a 26-year-old Pune-based realtor, was pushed to death from a cliff at the Lohagad Fort allegedly by his fiancee Siya Goyal and her lover, Chetan Chaudhary, on June 18.
Siya and Ketan first visited the fort on May 31. Four days later, on June 4, Siya pressed for another visit, but Ketan’s mother did not permit it. On June 14, she persuaded him to go again. During that visit, she allegedly tried to push him off a cliff, but Ketan managed to hold on to a bush. When Ketan asked why she had pushed him, Siya claimed there had been a snake and that she had acted to protect him.
Siya and Ketan got engaged in February and were set to be married later in November this year. The families had booked a palace in Jaipur for Rs 17 crore and arranged two private planes to fly guests to the wedding.
During the investigation, it has been reported that 20-year-old Siya Goyal had ‘secretly’ married Chetan after her engagement with Ketan. Two of Goyal’s college friends who allegedly signed as witnesses are being probed, sources said.
Both Siya and Chetan are in police custody.
