Months after the murder of Pune-based realtor Ketan Agarwal at the Lohagad Fort, the police have arrested a 22-year-old man for his alleged involvement in the case.
Identified as Ritesh Hange, he is now the third person to be arrested in connection with the June 18 murder that saw Ketan pushed off a cliff at the fort by Chetan Chaudhary, the lover of Ketan's fiancée, Siya Goyal.
"During the investigation, it came to light that Ritesh was involved in the planning of Ketan Agarwal's murder," Pune Rural Superintendent of Police Sandip Singh Gill said, as per a PTI report.
Another police officer explained that Ritesh had also known the accused duo's earlier plan to injure Ketan by breaking his hands and legs—and then killing him. In fact, Chetan had even contacted Ritesh and informed him about the events of June 18 after Ketan was killed from the cliff.
The earlier plan to injure Ketan had also been aimed at ultimately delaying her upcoming marriage to him, as the accused duo had been in love with each other before Siya's marriage to him was the realtor was fixed.
However, they had later dismissed the plan as a big "risk", amid their discussions on the best ways to kill Ketan, whom they felt was allegedly becoming an obstacle in their relationship.
They had also explored multiple locations to execute their plan—including Tiger Point, Visapur Fort and a few other forts in the region—before choosing the Lohagad Fort.
The accused duo's meetings at a cafe to plot his murder also saw them agree on a signal to “signal” to indicate the timing to shove Ketan into the gorge. The plan was that Siya would bend down in front of Ketan to give the signal to Chetan, who would then push him into the valley.
Hange was produced before the Vadgaon Maval Court, which remanded him to police custody till September 12.
