‘Wearing hoodie in 33°C’: How cops zeroed in on the suspect in the murder of Ketan Agarwal at Lohagad Fort

It was an attempt to cover up his identity, but all it did was lead the cops to him. That is how 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 a man was wearing a hoodie despite the temperature being around 33 degrees Celsius.

Face covered with hoodie

“While investigating the case, we stumbled upon certain circumstances surrounding the incident that raised suspicion and prompted a deeper probe. We checked CCTV cameras installed at the ticket counter of the fort, where we spotted Ketan and Siya walking together,” said a police officer who was part of the probe, told PTI.

While examining the footage minutely, police noticed a man who was a few metres behind Ketan and Siya.

“The man was wearing shorts and a hoodie. The front part of the hoodie was pulled so low that his face could not be seen. Additionally, the man was wearing a headset over the hoodie. In another footage clip, we noticed Siya suddenly looking back and, at the same time, the man in the hoodie suddenly sitting 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 in November this year in a grand ceremony in Udaipur, died on June 18 after falling from the Lohagad Fort near Pune. Siya had initially claimed that Ketan slipped while posing for a photo, and the case was initially treated as an accident.

What police found

However, during the investigation, the cops stumbled upon the mysterious hooded man closely following the couple when they were at Lohagad Fort. Siya’s role came under the scanner after police learned that she had earlier expressed reservations about the marriage and had once asked whether the wedding could be postponed by a year.

Adding to the suspicion was Ketan’s family’s revelation that Siya insisted on visiting Lohagad Fort along with her fiancée several times before the fatal fall. During technical surveillance, the cops also found thousands of phone calls, some even hours long, between Siya and another person.

“We found thousands of calls exchanged between the two over an extended period, including several conversations lasting for hours.

“The technical analysis established a close connection between the duo and pointed towards a well-thought-out conspiracy. We then examined photographs and social media profiles linked to Chaudhary. A comparison of those images with CCTV footage from the fort showing a hooded individual in the area helped police narrow their focus on him,” the officer said.

Why was Ketan killed

Police said the motive appeared to stem from Siya’s relationship with Chetan and her unwillingness to proceed with the marriage to Ketan.

“During the interrogation, Chetan was asked why they did not consider running away and instead chose to eliminate Ketan. According to him, Siya was not in favour of calling off the engagement and eloping with Chetan, as she thought doing so would bring disrespect to her family,” he said.