The last INMARSAT ping was at 8:11am, the plane lost contact around 1:19am, so it's possible.

http://theaviationist.com/2014/03/16/satcom-acars-explained/

Note the comments in the above link, the authorities have only released the INMARSAT ARC corresponding to a single ping. They have not released the ARCs for all the pings which would indicate if the plane was flying West or not.

It may be that authorities are already investigating the Maldives and possible follow-on destinations, but do not want to publicly alert the pilot/hijackers that they are on their trail, so in public the focus has been on the northern corridor and Kazakhstan.