Perfumer Monika Ghurde is suspected to have been murdered by a former watchman of the apartment complex where her body was found.
The Goa police on Sunday arrested the 21-year-old man from Bengaluru after a joint operation with the city police, reported TOI.
The suspect identified as Rajkumar Singh was arrested with the help of CCTV footage from ATMs where he used Ghurde’s card to withdraw money. The investigators also said that they zeroed in on him as he had also used Ghurde’s phone.
Singh reportedly withdrew money using the same ATM card in Mangaluru and Bengaluru, and also swiped the card for shopping in Mangaluru, Goa DIG Vimal Gupta said.
The investigators are yet to find out how the suspect obtained Ghurde’s ATM pin.
“We will know it after he is interrogated. Over Rs. 1 lakh cash was withdrawn from Ghurde's account from different ATMs in Goa and Karnataka,” Gupta said.
Gupta said that they put the missing cellphone on surveillance and while tracking it they found that the suspect had stolen the ATM card too.
He said that a team was dispatched to Mangaluru when they came to know that he had withdrawn money and also used it to shop. However, they lost track of him as he switched the victim’s phone off.
Goa police and the Bengaluru police then conducted a joint operation when it appeared that Singh had made a withdrawal in Bengaluru. He was subsequently traced to a hotel at Cottonpet in the city.
The 39-year-old perfumer’s naked body was found with her hands and legs tied to the bed in her rented flat close to Goa’s Calangute beach on Thursday night. The body was discovered by the maid the next morning.
She and her husband reportedly lived separately but in the same area.
According to Hindustan Times, the maid who reported to work the next morning, called Ghurde’s brother after nobody responded to the doorbell. Ghurde’s brother called on her phone and when she didn’t answer, asked the neighbour to open the house with the spare key that they had.
North Goa superintendent of police Umesh Gaonkar said that the death was because of "asphyxia due to compression of mouth and neck", reported Firstpost.
According to the website, the post-mortem report suggested that there were marks found on her private parts. Doctors at Goa Medical College and Hospital have not confirmed sexual assault. Viscera and swab will be sent to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory in Hyderabad for analysis.