Chilling details are emerging in the murder of perfumer Monika Ghurde. Her killer, a watchman who was fired from his job for stealing, believed she was responsible for his unemployment because the last complaint lodged was hers even though a lot of residents were upset with him, and was looking for a chance to take revenge.
He told the police in his alleged confession that he camped on Ghurde's terrace for two days before forcing his way in to her flat and threatening her with a knife.
On the evening of 5 October, Rajkumar Singh tied Ghurde to her bed and forced her to give up her personal identification number and her debit card, which he later used to withdraw money from several locations in Maharashtra, including Miraj and Nashik, before reaching Karnataka, police said.
Senior police officer Vimal Gupta told reporters that Singh had been "obsessed" with the photographer-turned-perfumer since the day she came looking for an apartment.
"The accused has confessed to the crime. He has told the investigating Officer that for two days he took refuge on the terrace of the building where Monika lived before forcibly entering her flat on October 5 evening," Gupta said.
"The accused was attracted towards Monika since the day she inquired about availability of a flat in the complex and later followed her movements when she started residing there. After his duty as a security guard, he would wash cars of the residents, including that of Monika," said the officer.
According to reports, Singh was laid off from his job at the Sapna Raj Valley apartment in Sangolda in July this year on complaints of stealing. Ghurde had accused him of taking an umbrella which was reportedly recovered from Singh's possession, the report stated.
Singh, who was denied two months' salary -- around Rs 22,000 -- by the security agency he worked for, had allegedly pleaded with Ghurde to take her complaint back. When he could not find another job, he planned the murder in detail.
He allegedly showed her pornographic clips on his phone, raped her, smothered her with a pillow, and believing she had lost consciousness, cooked eggs in her kitchen, ate snacks from her store and shaved, the Indian Express reported.
Goa police have added a case of rape in addition to the murder charge. "We will add Section 376 (rape) IPC to the case," India Today quoted Gupta as saying.
DNA analysis of hair samples collected from the flat will be used as evidence to make the case water tight.