Man held in Bengaluru for perfumer’s murder

 

Bengaluru/Panaji, 10 Oct 2016: A man was arrested from a lodge in Cottonpet in Bengaluru on Sunday in connection with the murder of perfume specialist Monica Ghurde, whose naked body was found in her rented flat near Panaji in Goa. 

 

Rajkumar Singh (21) alias Rajesh, a native of Batinda in Punjab, was nabbed late Saturday night with help from the Bengaluru police and is being taken to Goa, a top official said.

 

The official said they were tracking the movement of the accused during his journey through Maharashtra and Karnataka on the basis of ATM transactions. After the murder, Singh took away Monica’s ATM card and mobile phone.

 

“He had checked into the lodge at midnight on October 8. He used Monica’s ATM card and withdrew money from a kiosk in Basavanagudi on Saturday. He also used the card to buy clothes from a shop in Gandhi Bazaar. The transaction details and  coordination with the bank, shop and owners of lodges in Cottonpet helped us arrest Singh” DCP (South) Sharanappa S D told DH.

 

Singh had gone to Panjim in search of employment. He landed a security guard’s job with a private agency, which posted him at Monica’s flat at Sapana Raj Valley. However, the agency removed him three months ago due to professional reasons, the police said.

 

The 39-year-old’s naked body was found at her flat in Sangolda village near Calangute beach in Goa on October 6. A post-mortem on Saturday revealed that she died of strangulation, but it was not clear if she was raped.

 

“The Goa Police received messages regarding Monica’s card transactions in Benglauru on Saturday. 

 

They contacted the Bengaluru police and shared Singh’s picture, his employment details and the CCTV footage from the ATMs,” a senior police officer said. 

 

During interrogation, Singh confessed to the crime and claimed he murdered Monica for financial gain. 

 

A few hours before her death, Monica had spoken to her Mumbai-based brother Anand.

 

“Anand had called her around 7.30 pm on October 5. She told him she would be moving out after some time. This is the last-known communication she had with anyone,” Superintendent of Police (North Goa) Umesh Gaonkar said. 

 

Monica had done a course in photography from Mumbai’s JJ Institute of Applied Arts. She moved to Chennai in 2009 to pursue her interest in perfumes and shifted to Goa in 2011. She had set up a perfume-making company, Mo Lab.