‘Wearing a sweatshirt in 33C’: How police tracked murder suspect Ketan Agarwal in Lohagad Fort | Today’s news
It was an attempt to conceal his identity, but all it did was lead the police to him. Thus Chetan Chaudhary, one of the two suspects in the murder of Pune real estate businessman Ketan Agarwal, was arrested by the police. According to the police, they found it unusual that the man was wearing a sweatshirt despite the temperature around 33 degrees Celsius.
Face covered by a hooded sweatshirt
“During the investigation of the case, we came across certain circumstances of the incident which raised suspicion and prompted a deeper investigation. We checked the CCTV cameras installed at the fort’s ticket office where we saw Ketan and Siya walking together,” a police officer who was part of the investigation told PTI.
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Chetan Chaudhary wore a hooded sweatshirt in the hot weather to conceal his identity while following Ketan Agarwal and Siya Goyal, which eventually attracted the attention of the police during the investigation.
Police identified the hooded suspect by examining CCTV footage from Lohagad Fort, where they spotted a man closely following the couple, further linking him to the crime.
Siya Goyal, Ketan’s fiancee, was implicated in the murder due to her relationship with Chetan Chaudhary and her attempts to manipulate situations to eliminate Ketan, whom she saw as an obstacle.
Evidence of the conspiracy included thousands of phone calls between Siya and Chetan, as well as previous attempts to harm Ketan, suggesting a premeditated plan behind the murder.
Siya expressed reservations about marrying Ketan due to her ongoing relationship with Chetan and her fear of possibly dishonoring her family if she eloped with him.
Read also | Siya tried to push Ketan down Lohagad Fort four days before the murder: Family
While examining the footage in detail, the police noticed a man who was a few meters behind Ketan and Siya.
“The man was wearing shorts and a hooded sweatshirt. The front of the sweatshirt was pulled down so low that his face could not be seen. The man also had a headset on over the sweatshirt. In the next shot, we noticed that Siya suddenly looked back and at the same time the hooded man suddenly sat down,” the official said.
Death of Ketan Agarwal
26-year-old Ketan, who was engaged to Siya Goyal and was set to tie the knot this November in a grand ceremony in Udaipur, died on June 18 after falling from Lohagad Fort near Pune. Siya initially claimed that Ketan slipped while posing for a photograph and the case was initially ruled an accident.
What the police found
However, during the investigation, the police came across a mysterious hooded man who was following the couple closely when they were at Lohagad Fort. Siya’s role came under the scanner after the police learned that she had earlier expressed reservations about the marriage and once asked if the wedding could be postponed by a year.
Adding to the suspicions was the revelation by Ketan’s family that Siya had insisted on visiting the Lohagad fort with her fiancee several times before the fatal fall. During the technical surveillance, the police also found thousands of phone calls, some even hours long, between Siya and another person.
“We found thousands of calls exchanged between them over an extended period of time, including several that lasted for hours.
“Technical analysis showed a close link between the pair and pointed to a well-planned conspiracy. We then examined photographs and social media profiles associated with Chaudhary. Comparing these images with CCTV footage from the fort showing a hooded individual in the area helped police zero in on him,” said a police officer.
Why was Ketan killed?
Police said the motive seems to stem from Siya’s relationship with Chetan and her reluctance to continue her marriage with Ketan.
“During interrogation, Chetan was asked why they didn’t consider elopement and chose to eliminate Ketan instead. According to him, Siya was not in favor of calling off the engagement and elopement with Chetan as she thought it would bring disrespect to her family,” he said.
