In a distressing turn of events, the CEO of a Bengaluru-based AI startup allegedly killed her 4-year-old son in a hotel in Goa. Suchana Seth was arrested by Goa Police on 8th January. According to the doctors at Hiriyur Hospital in Karnataka’s Chitradurga, the accused probably smothered her son with a pillow causing his death due to suffocation. The doctors said this after a preliminary examination of the body as it was sent for postmortem.
“The child was smothered. He could have probably died after being suffocated by a pillow or some other object. The child doesn’t seem like he was killed by strangulation using hands. The killing took place over 36 hours ago. His face and chest are swollen due to suffocation. And the child’s nose was bleeding,” Dr Kumar Naik, who was in charge of the postmortem examination said.
Meanwhile, accused Suchana Seth was produced before Mapusa court in Goa. The court remanded the accused into a six-day police custody.
Goa murder | Goa court remands to six-day police custody Suchana Seth, who is accused of killing her four-year-old son
— ANI (@ANI) January 9, 2024
Speaking about the murder on Tuesday, Nidhin Valsan, North Goa Superintendent of Police told the media, “A woman asked the hotel staff to arrange a taxi for Bengaluru. After the checkout, when the hotel staff went to clean the room, they found red-coloured stains which they assumed to be blood. The staff immediately informed the police. The police reached the hotel and tried to contact the woman through the driver. The police inquired about the woman’s son to which she said that the child had been staying at a friend’s place. However, the police found the address provided by the woman to be fake. The driver was asked to take the car to the police station and on checking the luggage, the police found the body of the boy. An FIR was registered and the woman was arrested.”
#WATCH | Panaji: On the murder of a four-year-old boy in Goa, North Goa SP Nidhin Valsan says, "A woman asked the hotel staff to arrange a taxi for Bengaluru…After the checkout, when the hotel staff went to clean the room, they found red-coloured stains which they assumed to be… pic.twitter.com/TqqOyuqwfv
— ANI (@ANI) January 9, 2024
‘Suchana Seth tried to commit suicide after killing son’: reports
After allegedly murdering her four-year-old son in a service apartment, Suchana Seth attempted suicide by slitting her left wrist, IndiaToday reported. According to police, Suchana Seth changed her mind and left for Bengaluru with her son’s body stuffed in a bag in a tourist cab.
The question arises as to why a mother would kill her son. The accused allegedly committed the crime to keep her estranged husband from visiting their son as part of his visitation rights. The couple’s divorce is currently underway. According to reports, Seth was upset after a court order allowed her estranged husband, who is from Kerala, to see their son every Sunday. She then allegedly planned to murder her son just a day before the scheduled meeting.
“This is what she told our investigators.” The motive has yet to be determined. “Before making any further statements, we need to review the court order,” said North Goa SP Nidhin Valson.
VIDEO | The body of the four-year-old child, who was allegedly killed by his mother – Suchana Seth – at a hotel in Goa, was handed over to his father Venkat Raman in Karnataka's Chitradurga after post-mortem. pic.twitter.com/Mbt7Fh8XhK
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) January 9, 2024
According to police, Suchana Seth’s estranged husband Venkat Raman returned to India from Jakarta on Tuesday evening after learning of his child’s murder. Venkat Raman arrived in Chitradurga, Karnataka, and consented to the local authorities conducting a post-mortem on his son’s body. Following the postmortem examination, the body of the deceased victim was handed over to Raman.
Following Seth’s arrest, police went to her company’s listed address and found a co-working space rather than a specific office. She used to live in Thanisandra, Bengaluru, but when police arrived, they found that she had vacated the apartment about four months ago, as reported by IndianExpress.
As reported earlier, Seth checked into the Hotel Sol Banyan Grande’s service apartment number 404 with her son on 6th January. She vacated the room on the morning of the 8th of January. Seth requested the hotel staff to arrange a taxi. When the hotel staff suggested she should take a flight as it would be easier, and possibly cheaper too, Seth insisted on taking a cab back to Bengaluru. A local taxi was hired for Seth by the hotel staff.
During the routine cleaning after Seth’s departure, the hotel staff noticed blood stains in the room. The hotel management was informed, which promptly informed the Calangute Police at 11 AM. The police reviewed the hotel’s CCTV footage and noted that Seth left without her son.
Sensing something was wrong, Police Inspector Naik took the taxi driver’s number from the hotel staff and called him. When he questioned Suchana about her son, she told the inspector that she left him with a friend at Fatorda. Police checked the address given by Suchana in Fatorda and found it fake.
Police called back the driver and spoke to him in Konkani, asking him to take the cab to the nearest police station without the knowledge of Suchana. The taxi driver followed the instructions and took the taxi to Aimangala Police Station, without informing Suchana about it. By the time the taxi reached the police station, PI Naik already informed the Aimangala police inspector about the matter and requested him to check the bag. When the bag was opened, the police found the dead body of the four-year-old child.
Suchana Seth is one of the leading names in the AI ethics industry. She founded Mindful AI Lab in 2020. Seth was named among the top 100 women in AI Ethics in 2021. Seth is a data scientist and was a Fellow at the Berkman Klein Centre at Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts.
