Why Gait Analysis of Accused Chetan Chaudhary Is Critical in the Ketan Agarwal Murder Case
A Pune court extended the police custody of Siya Goyal and Chetan Chaudhary till July 3 for allegedly murdering realtor Ketan Agarwal at Lohagad Fort. To counter Chaudhary's attempts to hide his face in hoodies, police will use forensic gait analysis to match his walking patterns with CCTV footage. A missing passport is also being traced.
Investigators probing the alleged murder of Pune-based realtor Ketan Agarwal will conduct a forensic "gait analysis" on prime suspect Chetan Chaudhary, a local court was informed on Monday, June 29. The 22-year-old Chaudhary and his alleged lover, Siya Goyal - who was the victim's fiancée - stand accused of conspiring to kill the 25-year-old Agarwal by pushing him off a 400-foot cliff at Lohagad Fort on June 18. Following the hearing, the court extended the police custody of both suspects until July 3.
The Role of Gait Analysis in the Investigation
Gait analysis is the systematic study of human locomotion, evaluating specific physical traits such as stride length, posture, and unique limb movements to identify individuals from video records. Ketan Agarwal Suspected Siya Goyal Had Affair, Asked Family About Background Checks.
According to Pune Rural Police, the medical and forensic evaluation became essential because Chaudhary wore a heavy hoodie with the hood pulled low to deliberately conceal his face on the day of the crime. The choice of attire drew immediate suspicion from investigators, given that temperatures at the historic fort hovered around 33 degrees Celsius during the June incident. "We are planning to conduct a gait analysis of Chaudhary," a police official stated. "We have CCTV footage showing him walking while wearing a hoodie to hide his face. The gait analysis will compare his locomotion in the CCTV footage with the recreated video to determine whether the walking patterns match," the official added. To execute the test, detectives will require Chaudhary to replicate his movements at the exact location on the fort while wearing identical clothing, allowing forensic experts to map his walking patterns against the original security footage.
Uncovering the Conspiracy Plot
Assistant Public Prosecutor Rajashri Virkud informed the court that the suspects had allegedly conducted reconnaissance missions to the fort before June 18 to select a precise, secluded cliff edge where a fall could easily be misconstrued as a trekking accident. The prosecution emphasised that the duo had repeatedly met at various locations to orchestrate the plot and had deleted substantial volumes of digital data from their mobile devices. Technical investigation teams are currently attempting to retrieve the scrubbed data, which they characterise as crucial evidence. Furthermore, authorities noted that while a preliminary crime scene reconstruction based on Goyal's interrogation statements was successfully executed on June 28, a separate verification process must now be conducted independently with Chaudhary.
Sabotaged Travel Plans and the Missing Passport
The prosecution detailed a pattern of premeditation leading up to the fatal trek, revealing that Goyal had strongly opposed travelling to Bali with Agarwal for a planned pre-wedding photoshoot. To deliberately derail the international trip, Goyal allegedly removed Agarwal’s passport from his luggage during their commute from Pune to Mumbai, later discarding it at a food mall near Khalapur in the Raigad district. Police are currently utilising Goyal's assistance in custody to locate and recover the discarded document. The prosecution also noted that multiple new eyewitnesses have recently come forward. Investigators plan to confront the accused individuals directly with these witness accounts to resolve discrepancies in their timelines. Where Is 'Siya Spot'? Ketan Agarwal Murder Case Drives 25% Surge in Visitors to Pune's Lohagad Fort.
Recreation of the Crime Scene
The revelation comes shortly after the Lonavla Rural Police took Goyal back to Lohagad Fort to reconstruct the sequence of events using a human-sized dummy matching the victim’s physical build. During that exercise, investigators established that Goyal allegedly utilised a pre-arranged physical signal—sitting down on the trail—to alert Chaudhary to approach and push an unsuspecting Agarwal into the gorge. To evade tracking and law enforcement checkpoints, Chaudhary reportedly travelled to the tourist site on a two-wheeler rather than a car to bypass toll plaza cameras. He allegedly removed the hoodie after ascending the fort to blend in with visitors, putting it back on only as he departed the area to flee back to Pune.
Legal counsel for both defendants continue to contest the state's narrative. Goyal’s defence attorney, Vipul Dushing, argued before the court that her arrest lacked proper legal basis, while Chaudhary's attorney, Ram Shahane, maintained that his client’s exact role within the initial First Information Report (FIR) remains vague and legally undefined.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 01, 2026 08:05 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
