Third arrest in Ketan Agarwal murder case: ‘Lover’ Chetan’s friend held as ‘he knew of earlier murder plan’

The Pune Rural Police on Saturday arrested a 22-year-old man in connection with the murder of Pune-based realtor Ketan Agarwal at Lohagad Fort in June, officials said on Saturday.Ketan's fiancee Siya Goyal and her alleged lover Chetan Chaudhary had already been arrested in connection with the crime.This is the third arrest in the murder case, following the arrests of Ketan's fiancee Siya Goyal and her alleged lover Chetan Chaudhary. The 22-year-old, identified as Ritesh Hange, is reportedly a friend of Chetan, PTI news agency reported citing officials.What is the 22-year-old accused of?Hange was allegedly part of the conspiracy to murder Ketan. According to police, Siya and Chetan allegedly pushed Agarwal off a cliff at Lohagad fort in Pune district on June 18.“During the investigation, it came to light that Ritesh was involved in the planning of Ketan Agarwal's murder,” PTI reported citing Pune Rural Superintendent of Police Sandip Singh Gill.Another officer said that Hange was involved in the planning of Ketan's murder, and said the third accused was aware of Siya and Chetan's earlier plan to injure Ketan by breaking his hands and legs and to eventually kill him. “After allegedly executing the murder at Lohagad fort on June 18, Chetan contacted Ritesh and informed him about it,” PTI cited the officer as saying.What was the earlier plan Hange was aware of?The two key accused had reportedly earlier discussed injuring Ketan to delay his upcoming marriage with Siya, PTI reported citing police. However, Siya and Chetan realised that the plan was too “risky” and decided the kill Ketan instead.The accused had allegedly discussed various methods to portray Ketan's death as an accident, and reportedly watched suspense films and browsed the internet. “The accused had explored multiple locations, including Tiger Point, Visapur Fort and a few other forts in the region, before settling on Lohagad Fort,” PTI cited an official as saying. The official said the accused had exchanged photographs of these places and assessed which location would suit their objective.