Ketan Agarwal Murder: Coded Chats, Rehearsal Claims Extend Custody

Prosecutors in the Ketan Agarwal murder case asked a Pune court Friday for three more days of police custody for Siya Goyal and Chetan Chaudhary, the two prime accused. The request rests on digital evidence recovered from their phones – chats the prosecution says use symbols, nicknames, and coded language that only the accused can decode.

Goyal and Chaudhary appeared before Judicial Magistrate First Class AM Vibhute after their initial police custody expired, news agency PTI reported. They are accused of killing Agarwal, a Pune-based realtor, by pushing him off Lohagad Fort on June 18. Agarwal was engaged to Goyal, who prosecutors allege conspired with Chaudhary, her lover, to carry out the murder.

Assistant Public Prosecutor Rajashree Virkud told the court investigators had conducted a panchnama at a location where the two allegedly rehearsed the plan. She said police recovered an additional mobile phone belonging to Goyal and sent it to the forensic science laboratory for examination.

"Data from the phones seized earlier has already been retrieved, and investigators have received the forensic report. The recovered chats contain coded language, including nicknames and emojis, whose meaning can be explained only by the accused," Virkud said.

The prosecution argues that while forensic analysis confirmed coded exchanges, investigators need more time to determine the precise meaning and context of the messages. That context, they say, is critical to establishing the sequence of events leading to Agarwal's death.

The court was hearing the extension plea as proceedings continued. No ruling was reported at the time of writing.