Suchana Seth.
Chitradurga: A Bengaluru-based CEO of a startup who allegedly killed her four-year-old son, apparently upset over a court ruling in her divorce case, was intercepted in Chitradurga district while fleeing to Bengaluru from Goa.
Suchana Seth (39), the CEO of Bengaluru-based artificial intelligence startup Mindful AI Lab, was arrested at Aimangala police station in Hiriyur taluk and remanded in six-day custody.
The woman was ferrying the mortal remains of her son in her baggage after reportedly killing him in a rented serviced apartment in Goa. It is said that she was unhappy with the court’s direction which permitted her estranged husband Venkat Raman to meet her son every Sunday when divorce proceedings were on. The boy’s body has been shifted to a mortuary in Hiriyur’s general hospital.
Police sources stated that Suchana, a native of Kolkata, had come to Bengaluru in 2008, where she got acquainted with Venkat Raman. The two got married in 2010 and had a son in 2019, whom they named Chinmay.
Their relationship soured and the couple sought divorce with the court permitting the man to meet his son every Sunday. Enraged, she reportedly strangled her son in the serviced apartment in Goa and tried to end her life. Later, she changed her mind and headed for Bengaluru with her son’s body.
Suchana had checked into a rented service apartment in North Goa’s Candolim on January 6 with her son. According to Calangute police inspector Paresh Naik, after staying there for a couple of days, she told the apartment staffers that she wanted to go to Bengaluru for some work and asked them to arrange for a taxi. When the staffers suggested that a flight to Bengaluru would be cheaper, she insisted on travelling by taxi. A vehicle was arranged on January 8 by which she left for Bengaluru. Later, when the apartment staff went to clean her room, they found blood stains on a towel. The management immediately informed the Calangute police. They also told the police that Suchana’s son was not seen with her when she left the apartment and she was also carrying an unusually heavy bag. This led to suspicion.
The police then called her and asked her about the blood stains and her son. She replied that the blood stains were due to her periods and added that her son was with her friend in Margao in South Goa and provided the address. When the police checked, they learnt that it was a fake address. The inspector then spoke over the phone to the taxi driver in Konkani to ensure Suchana did not understand the conversation and directed him to drive to the nearest police station. The Goa police then rushed to Aimangala police station, and took her to Goa for interrogation.