Goa Perfumer Found Dead In Apartment, Her Hands Tied To Bed

Panaji: Monika Ghurde, a well-known perfumer, was found dead at her residence in Goa's Sangolda village on Thursday.

Her hands were tied to a bed and she was half-undressed, said the police, who suspect that the 39-year-old was raped and murdered. There was a reddishness on her face that indicates she could have been suffocated using a pillow, said a senior police official who is investigating the case.

A post mortem will be conducted tomorrow morning, he said, which will help establish cause of death.

Ms Ghurde's domestic help raised an alarm when she did not open the door on Thursday morning. Using a spare key, her neighbour opened the door along with the watchman to find her dead.

"We received information about the incident late last night. We found her naked body and the flat had been burgled," said the police officer, Rajesh Kumar.

The police has been unable to ascertain what is missing from the three-bedroom apartment that Ms Ghurde rented, as she lived alone. They said they are working several theories and have dispatched multiple teams. The police suspect that Monika's killer knew her as there were no signs of any forced entry into her apartment.

The building watchman has reportedly told the police that he had no information on anyone entering the apartment. The police have rounded up several people from the village, which is 5 km away from Goa's famous Calangute beach.

Monika Ghurde, who was from Nagpur in Maharashtra, had moved to Sangolda only in July this year from the neighbouring Provorim village. Sangolda is about 10 km away from Goa capital Panjim.

Her website describes her as an independent perfumer and researcher based in Goa. It says she trained and worked under an English perfumer before launching her MO Lab. Before she became a perfumer, Ms Ghurde was a photographer.