Suchana Seth who allegedly smothered the 4-year-old with a pillow (HT)
In a distressing turn of events, Suchana Seth, the CEO of a Bengaluru-based artificial intelligence startup, was arrested by Goa Police on January 8, on allegations of killing her 4-year-old son. The shocking incident took place in a hotel in Goa, with preliminary reports suggesting the child was smothered with a pillow.
Doctors at Hiriyur Hospital in Karnataka’s Chitradurga conducted a preliminary examination of the body, concluding that the child likely died due to suffocation caused by smothering.
Dr. Kumar Naik, overseeing the postmortem examination, stated, “The child was smothered. He could have probably died after being suffocated by a pillow or some other object. The killing took place over 36 hours ago.”
Suchana Seth was presented before the Mapusa court in Goa, where she was remanded into six-day police custody.
According to Nidhin Valsan, North Goa Superintendent of Police, the investigation unfolded when hotel staff discovered red stains assumed to be blood in the room after Seth had checked out. The police, attempting to contact Seth, uncovered inconsistencies in her story. Eventually, upon inspecting the luggage in a tourist cab bound for Bengaluru, they discovered the lifeless body of the young boy.
In a shocking twist to the tragic tale, Suchana Seth reportedly attempted suicide by slitting her left wrist after murdering her son in a service apartment. News outlet IndiaToday reported that she changed her mind and decided to return to Bengaluru with her son’s body concealed in a bag.
The motive behind this horrific incident appears to be linked to the custody battle between Suchana Seth and her estranged husband, who is currently undergoing divorce proceedings. Seth committed the crime to prevent her husband from exercising his visitation rights, granted by a recent court order. Upset over the prospect of her estranged husband seeing their son every Sunday, Seth purportedly planned the murder just a day before the scheduled meeting.
Investigations are ongoing as authorities strive to understand the motivation behind this heinous act. North Goa Superintendent of Police, Nidhin Valson, emphasised the need to review the court order before making further statements regarding the tragic incident.
Upon learning of the tragic demise of his child, Suchana Seth’s estranged husband, Venkat Raman, returned to India from Jakarta on Tuesday evening. Arriving in Chitradurga, Karnataka, Raman cooperated with local authorities in facilitating a post-mortem examination on his son’s body. Following the examination, the deceased victim’s body was handed over to Raman.
In the aftermath of Seth’s arrest, law enforcement officials visited her company’s registered address, only to discover a co-working space rather than a dedicated office. Despite previously residing in Thanisandra, Bengaluru, it was revealed that Seth had vacated her apartment approximately four months ago, as reported by IndianExpress.
As previously detailed, Seth and her son checked into service apartment number 404 at Hotel Sol Banyan Grande on January 6, departing on the morning of January 8. Requesting a taxi for her return to Bengaluru, Seth insisted on the cab despite the hotel staff suggesting a flight. During routine cleaning after her departure, bloodstains were discovered in the room, prompting the hotel management to alert Calangute Police at 11 AM. CCTV footage revealed that Seth had left the premises without her son.
Concerned about the situation, Police Inspector Naik obtained the taxi driver’s contact information, discovering that Seth had misled him about leaving her son with a friend in Fatorda. Investigating the provided address, the police found it to be fake. Taking discreet action, the police instructed the taxi driver to proceed to Aimangala Police Station without informing Seth. Upon inspection of the bag, police discovered the lifeless body of the four-year-old child.
Suchana Seth, a prominent figure in the AI ethics industry, founded Mindful AI Lab in 2020. Recognised among the top 100 women in AI Ethics in 2021, Seth, a data scientist, previously served as a fellow at the Berkman Klein Centre at Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts.
She was arrested only because there was a traffic jam of 4 hours when she was going from Goa to Bangalore.
Seth’s journey was delayed due to a four-hour traffic jam caused by an overturned truck at Chorla Ghat. This bottleneck occurred at the convergence of the borders of Goa, Karnataka, and Maharashtra. A truck had overturned causing the highway jam.
The driver was quoted by Indian Express saying, “We started from Goa at 12.30 am. The trolley bag was unusually heavy, but I loaded it in the boot space just as she had asked me. Since there was a traffic jam near Chorla Ghat because a truck had overturned, I even offered to drop her at the airport by an alternate route. I was told that she was in a hurry and she needed to reach Bengaluru urgently. But she refused to go to the airport. I did not say anything further, I was getting paid for the trip.”
The unfolding tragedy has left the community shocked, raising questions about the circumstances leading to this devastating incident.
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