Monika Ghurde murder case: Goa police adds charges of rape, robbery against accused

Panaji: Days after arrest of a 21-year-old man for the murder of perfume specialist Monika Ghurde, Goa police on Monday added charges of rape and robbery against him. “The accused, Rajkumar Singh, who was arrested in Bangalore on 9 October, was initially booked only for murder. However, during the investigation he admitted to raping her too,” Police Inspector Rajesh Kumar, who is probing the case, told PTI.

“Therefore, the accused has also been booked under IPC Sections 376 for rape and also 392 for robbery, as he had taken away two ATM cards and a mobile phone belonging to the deceased after killing her,” he said.

The post-mortem conducted on the deceased soon after the incident had confirmed that she was smothered, although it was silent on the suspicion of rape as doctors at Goa Medical College and Hospital had sent the swab sample for serological test. That report is still awaited.

Ghurde was found dead in her three-bedroom rented apartment in Sangolda village near here. The 39-year-old’s naked body was recovered on 6 October, but investigation revealed she was killed a day earlier. The fashion designer-turned-perfumer had been living alone in the flat since July last.

Police had earlier said that the accused had confessed to sexually abusing Monika after tying her to bed in her apartment and also forced her to watch porn clips. Singh, a 21-year-old native of Punjab, worked as a security guard here.

Singh was nabbed from a Bengaluru hotel on 9 October. He was tracked on the basis of ATM transactions he made at different locations. Police had also said that the accused had tortured the deceased during the entire night before killing her.

“He was upset with the deceased as he had lost the job and yet to get his pending salary owing to the complaint of theft registered by her (deceased) with the security agency which had employed him,” police had said.

Meanwhile, the accused was on Monday produced before a local court, which extended his police custody by another four days.