Gait Analysis Key as Police Extend Custody of Two Accused in Ketan Agarwal Murder Case
The Vadgaon Maval court on Monday extended the police custody of Siya Goyal and Chetan Chaudhary, accused in the Ketan Agarwal murder case, by four days until July 3. The prosecution argued that a forensic study of the accused's walking pattern, among 18 other investigative requirements, remained pending.
Among the grounds cited by the investigating officer was the need to conduct a gait analysis of Chaudhary—a forensic examination of a person's unique walking pattern. The analysis is expected to match Chaudhary's gait with footage from CCTV cameras near the crime scene at Lohagad Fort.
A senior police officer said, “Chaudhary would be dressed in his original hoodie attire and made to walk again at the same spot at Lohagad Fort, and the new video-recorded walk would be compared with that of CCTV footage recorded on June 18. Using AI tools, we will analyse the similarity, and it will help confirm his presence.”
The prosecution listed 18 grounds for extending custody, including the recovery of Agarwal’s passport, which investigators say was removed from his bag by Goyal and discarded at Khalapur Food Mall near Lonavala during their journey from Pune to Mumbai. The prosecution stated that Goyal did so because she did not wish to travel to Bali, Indonesia, with Ketan for a pre-wedding shoot.
Other grounds included identifying locations where the two accused allegedly met to plan the conspiracy; determining the site where they reportedly rehearsed the crime; conducting a joint interrogation of both accused; and reconstructing the sequence of events based on Goyal’s statement, which was done on June 28 at Lohagad Fort. A similar exercise with Chaudhary is yet to be conducted.
The court was informed that digital evidence seized in the case has been sent to the Regional Forensic Science Laboratory in Pune, but the report has not yet been received. Deleted digital data, considered crucial evidence, is in the process of being recovered, and the accused need to be questioned once it is retrieved.
The prosecution also sought time to question newly identified witnesses, conduct a confrontation between witnesses and the accused, and investigate whether Goyal, who retained possession of Ketan’s mobile phone after his death before handing it to relatives, destroyed any evidence on the device during that period.
Additionally, the investigation aims to determine whether the accused used social media or other channels to gather information on evading detection, whether they had made an earlier attempt on the deceased’s life, and whether any other individuals were involved in the alleged conspiracy. “The full-length trousers worn by Chaudhary during his journey from his residence to the crime scene also remain to be seized,” the prosecution said.
