Celebrity perfumer murdered in Goa home; body found naked and tied to bed

October 7, 2016

Panaji, Oct 7: Monika Ghurde, a well-known perfumer, was found dead at her residence in Goa's Sangolda village on Thursday.

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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.

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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.

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News Network
December 15,2025

Mangaluru police have arrested a 27-year-old NRI on his return from Saudi Arabia in connection with an Instagram post allegedly containing derogatory and provocative remarks about the Hindu religion, officials said on Monday.

The accused, Abdul Khader Nehad, a resident of Ulaibettu in Mangaluru, was working in Saudi Arabia when the post was uploaded, police said.

A suo motu case was registered at the Bajpe police station on October 11 after an allegedly offensive post circulated from the Instagram account ‘team_sdpi_2025’. Police said the content was flagged for being provocative and derogatory in nature.

During the investigation, technical analysis traced the Instagram post to Nehad, who was residing abroad at the time, a senior police officer said. Based on these findings, a Look Out Circular (LOC) was issued against him.

On December 14, Nehad arrived from Saudi Arabia at Calicut International Airport in Kerala, where he was taken into custody on arrival. Police said further investigation is underway.

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