An alleged 10-hour ‘offline strategy’ has emerged as an important clue for the police during the investigation into the murder of Pune real estate businessman Ketan Aggarwal. The investigating agencies claim that this entire plan was prepared in advance so that the police could be misled and digital surveillance could be avoided.
According to the police, the main accused Chetan Chaudhary remained completely disconnected from mobile internet for about 640 minutes on the day of the incident. Investigators believe this long offline period was intentional, so that his digital location and activities could not be traced. However, police say that this unusual gap helped in connecting the sequence of events.
What was the strategy to be ‘invisible’ for 10 hours?
- 7:00 am: According to investigators, at around 7 am on June 18, Chetan Choudhary switched off the internet on his mobile. It is alleged that he also took other steps to hide his digital presence.
- Afternoon: According to media reports, Choudhary reportedly remained in “digital stealth” mode during this period. Police claim he used an employee’s mobile phone for limited conversation and continued towards Lohagarh Fort.
- at 2 pm: Police allege that despite the temperature being around 33 degrees Celsius, Chaudhary was wearing a thick winter hoodie to hide his identity. According to investigation, he was following Ketan Agarwal and his fiancee Siya Goyal on the way to the fort.
- 2:30 pm: According to the police, Siya Goyal allegedly sat down as per a pre-arranged gesture at a secluded place near Vinchu Kata Ridge. Chaudhary then came out of his hiding place and allegedly pushed Ketan Agarwal into a ditch, resulting in his death.
- 5:40 pm: Police say that after being offline for several hours, Choudhary turned on the internet again. According to investigators, the sudden reconnection to the Internet was unusual and helped determine the timeline of the incident.
What has happened so far in the investigation of Ketan murder case?
On Sunday, Ketan Aggarwal’s fiancee Sia Goyal was taken to Lohagarh Fort, where the police reconstructed the entire incident of the alleged murder. Pune Rural Superintendent of Police Sandeep Singh Gill said, “The police reconstructed the entire chain of events. It re-understood the route taken by the accused, their position at the spot, the activities allegedly carried out and how the incident took place.”
Deputy Superintendent of Police Gajanan Tompe said that to reconstruct the incident site, the police had also prepared a dummy weighing equal to Ketan Aggarwal. On Saturday, the police also interrogated Siya Goyal’s parents and brother for a long time in this case. Sia’s father Praveen Goyal, mother Pooja Goyal and brother Sahil reached Lonavala Rural Police Station around 11 am and left from there after about 12 hours. Earlier on Friday, Sahil Goyal was also interrogated by the police for more than 10 hours.