CALANGUTE: The Calangute police on Sunday arrested two Maharashtrian property brokers for allegedly murdering Deodita Fernandes in her flat on Thursday over a monetary dispute.
The accused Aaquib Shaukat Khalfe and Nikhil Chandrakant Raje were nabbed at a petrol pump in Anjuna, police said.
Khalfe is a native of Ratnagiri, while Raje is a native of Pune. Sources reveal
that Khalfe was residing at a rented room in Peddem for the last eight years, was the victim’s neighbour, would often run errands for Deodita, won her confidence and even managed to get her UPI account number. He was also a driver of a former Siolim minister and had lost his job during corona in then took to brokerage for a living, said police. His partner in crime Raje had recently arrived in Goa, worked at a resort and was lured by the greed for money.
The cops said the crime was committed after a dispute concerning distribution of commission money over the sale of the victim’s property in Calangute.
The police managed to track down the accused at the Anjuna petrol pump when the duo allegedly transferred money from the victim's bank account using a mobile payment app on her phone which they had stolen after strangulating the victim.
Following their arrest, the duo were remanded in 10 days police custody for further investigations by the JMFC Mapusa on Sunday. Fernandes, 64, a resident of Karaswada, Mapusa, was found dead in suspicious circumstances in her flat in Naikawaddo, Calangute, on Thursday. She used to give the flat on rent.
Fernandes had come to her flat on the third floor of a building named Benson in Naikawaddo on Thursday afternoon as it was being renovated and painted.
When she did not return home till late in the evening and did not take any of her calls, her sister informed the caretaker of the flat. The caretaker reached the flat late in the night and found the door of the flat locked.
When the caretaker opened the door of the flat using a duplicate key, he found Deodita Fernandes lying dead in the dining hall. Her purse and mobile phone were found missing.
The case in being investigated by Calangute PI Paresh Naik under the supervision of DySP Vishwesh Karpe.